


Spider-Man: New Spiders

by NamelessPassionate



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Influences from MCU and more, Multiple Pairings, Original Character(s), Original Universe, Partially inspired by the Persona Series, oc-insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:13:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22829248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelessPassionate/pseuds/NamelessPassionate
Summary: After being tossed to a weird Marvel universe, Ethan Turner woke up with a spider bite. Yeah, he didn't lose his uncle or aunt(Or anything like that), but he decided to be a hero to protect the smile of others. Maybe Ethan is just selfless or wants to be a hero for the thrill, but one thing certain is that... He's not going to be the only new spiders. (OC insert)|Cross-post on Fanfiction.net under the same name.
Relationships: Betty Brant/Original Female Character(s), Felicia Hardy/Original Male Character(s), Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

So, let's start from the beginning one last time.

My name is Ethan Turner, a normal 16-year-old kid living in New York. I can't say that I'm that handsome, and my heavy framed glasses and black hair only shouted 'Nerd' to others. You know, living in a life that was... normal. Nothing happened or didn't happen.

That was until one night.

I don't know what happened or why, but I was somehow transferred to a new dimension, a new world in which heroes are real. And I got to be one of them as well. Call me 'Noir.'

I know, it's not that original... No, not original at all. But I got spider power, and Spider-Man is already a thing here.

However, all of you want to know what happened, right? Well, sit back, relax...

This is the story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down...

C'mon, it's the perfect summary of what happened to me.

* * *

After a few moments of wanting to vomit and feeling effin' sick, I opened my eyes and noticed that I was not in my bedroom, but in a hospital. But what's worse is that a group of teens and a young woman(SHe looked like in her mid-thirties) with long brown hair and black eyes were surrounding me.

Before I can even ask what the fuck just happened to me, that young woman suddenly hugged me close. "Ethan! You're OK!"

Wait, why did she know my name? I'm in a hospital for no reason, and peoples are sighing in relief upon my awakening. Jesus, can someone tell me what just happened?

But I decided to act like I'm familiar with that young man and smiled.

"Ethan!" One of the teens- a blonde girl with green eyes suddenly called out, grabbing everyone's attention. "You're finally awake!"

Uh... What. The. Fuck. Who is she?! I-I don't remember I had a girlfriend or any 'girl' friend! Calm yourself, Ethan. Calm the fuck down...

"U...uh..." I fake grunted, stretching my head. "What exactly happened?"

"You just got bitten by a spider." The young woman explained. "You were on a field trip on Oscorp, but somehow another spider got out and bit you."

Wait, Oscorp? Did I just got into one of the infinite universes of Marvel?! What the fuck?! You've got to be kidding me!

"Peter got bit at last year's field trip." A redhead in the crowd added, sighing in relief. "It's a relief that you're alright this time."

Peter? Um... If I'm right, that 'Peter' is Peter Parker (Or Peter B Parker). So I can be in a normal Marvel universe, the insomnia-verse, the MCU, or anything in between.

Hey, I can even be in a fanfic's world!

"Nerds." A Teen said, and he looked like the Flash Tompson in the movie... Uh... I think it's Flash.

Feeling extremely awkward in the situation, I shook my head and looked up again. "Um... Sorry 'bout that but... I think my memories are fuzzy from that bite... Who are you guys exactly?"

The group was... shocked to say at least. "You're serious?!" That blonde girl exclaimed, leaning closer to me, a bit too close. "You don't remember me? I'm Gwen!"

OK... She's Gwen Stacy. And now I have to make sure that she won't get her neck snapped. But what can I do? Should I sit around and watch what tragedy happen to Peter Parker?

Calm down, Ethan. You're only going to gain attention if you don't.

I nodded awkwardly. "Well, uh... I think so... Gwen?"

"Uh... I hope you remember me but... I'll do it in reassurance." The young woman murmured to herself, releasing me from her hug. "I'm your Aunt, Catherine."

Aunt... It's the best that I don't question them for anything specific.

I nodded. "OK... Well, what now?"

"I'm Mary Jane." The redhead waved. "Or just MJ."

OK, it's the Marvel universe. Jesus, my life is going to be complicated...

* * *

After a few check-ups and a few more hours later, I was finally able to get out of the hospital. Catherine drove me back to our house- an apartment in the heart of Queens. It was normal, with three bedrooms (One of them was empty) and an open kitchen.

Once we entered the apartment, Catherine turned around and put his hands to my shoulder. "I know you may not remember me, but..." She trailed off, closing her eyes, and sighed. "I don't know what to say... Whatever. Uh... there's a journal you wrote in your room."

"I'll make us some dinner."

With that said, she walked to the kitchen and started cooking. Meanwhile, I opened the door with a bunch of stickers on it. From what it seems, it was my room. It's messy, a bit too messy and filled with unfinished gadgets and books. Not only that, a few photos were stuck on the wall.

I took a closer look at the photos. It seems to be about two older people and me, I presume them as my parents. Anyway, I didn't know how, but once I saw the gadget on the table, a blueprint instantly surfaced in my mind.

Uh... So I was a kind of genius?

Whatever, I opened a drawer and took out a small notebook. I opened it and gave it a good read. So my parents are both police on the west coast, but my father got Killed in operation with the gang...

Uh... That's an origin with a superhero. Superhero...

Wait, I got a spider bite on a field trip on Oscorp. Fucking Oscorp out of everywhere. Ain't that the origin of Spider-Man?! OK, so there's a Peter in this world, and he got a bite one year ago. We got a bite from different spiders, so we're not going to be like how Silk and he turned out.

Gulping, I held my hand out and touched the wall. With anticipation filling my heart, I tried to pull my hand away but failed. Yeah, I just got spider power, Nice.

Remembering how to free myself from the wall(I got this from Into the Spiderverse.), I hummed the first tune in my mind- Sunflower and my hand got free. Clapping my face to ensure that I'm in the real world, I grinned.

I have superpower!

OK... Calm down, Ethan... What should I do now? Peter became Spider-Man because he thinks he's guilty of what happened to Uncle Ben. But I'm not like him, I just got tossed to this world for no reason and got spider power. But with great power comes great responsibility...

Urghhh fuck it, I should wait for a bit longer before choosing to be a hero or not. I should make up my mind. However, I should start working on a web shooter and police radio. And I should get a costume of my own.

Before I can think anything more, Catherine's calling snapped me back to the real world.

"Ethan, dinner's ready!"

Even though she's not my family from the 'old world,' but I should be nice and start to treat her like an actual aunt of mine. After all, she's somewhat hot.

But she's still my aunt, and I'm not going to do something pervert on her.

* * *

A few days had passed since my 'return', and I've used to my new life here. Apparently, I'm a genius (but no as genius as Peter) on chemistry and making stuff. Also, I've been great friends with Peter and his small group.

Who are the small group? It was MJ, Gwen, Peter and me. Yeah, Peter always got bullied by Flash, but I decided to stand up against him. He deserved better than what's coming.

Speaking of which, from what I've gathered, Spider-Man had been around for a few months by now. Not only that, Avengers are here as well. And the Avengers looked like their movie counterparts. With the fact that Peter looks like Tom Holland. So MCU? Whatever, it's not my priority for now.

Right now I'm having lunch with Gwen, both MJ and Peter had the stuff to do. Was the aura... awkward? Yeah, we're friends, and people are going to call us a couple or something like that. But from what I've observed, she is having a crush on Peter.

And with the dangerous fate, she's going to face... I don't know what I should do? Am I going to change the canon in a colossal way? What'll change if I change them?

Whatever, I'll do it anyway.

Seeing that I was entirely in my thought, Gwen tapped my shoulder. "Hey, Ethan..." She started, hesitant on whether continuing on or not. "Are you really Ethan? Ever since that field trip... You're different than what I remember."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "You used to be the quiet one, like Peter. But now you're the opposite of what you used to be."

Oh... So that's how I used to be.

"I can try to be what I used to be if you want to." I jokingly said, giggling as Gwen just deadpanned at my answer.

"I'm not saying that's a bad thing." The blonde sighed. "Just stating facts."

"Yeah... Maybe the loss of memories is a chance for me to start over." I said, staring at the sky outside.

"You're already on that path."

"I know, just stating facts." I smiled as Gwen giggled at my reuse of her word. Even though she's not my type or I shouldn't have a crush on her, but I won't refuse that she's a beauty.

Peter, you lucky bastard.

We didn't say anything more afterward, just enjoying our lunch and the comfortable silence.

After some more classes(I ignored the teacher and focused on the web-shooters and the formula.), today's school finally over, and I was about to get back home. However, a blur of red and blue swung past my head, and I looked up, you guessed it, it's Spider-Man.

"What does it feels like to be up there, Peter?"

I smiled, looking at the sky for a short while before returning to my routine.

* * *

Once I'm back at my house, I quickly got back to my house and started working on the web-shooters. I found two old watches from a box under my bed(I don't know why it's there.) and took it apart.

Finding some video about how to make a wrist shooter, I studied the process and adapted it to the two old watches. After god knows how long, I finally finished the web-shooters. Sighing as I looked at the beauty in front of me, which looks like the web-shooters from the first Amazing Spider-Man film, I glanced at the clock next to them.

Wait, it's three in the morning. Whatever, it's Saturday, I think I'll sleep through today... Or not, I should work on the web formula by now.

So the web needs to be elastic, and I mean VERY flexible so I can stuff a large amount of it to a small magazine. It needs to be very strong as well, strong enough to hold at least one ton as well. Lastly, it needs to be cheap to make as well! But the question is, which formula is the best for my requirement?

I took a few online searches (Mostly on a forum which dedicated to cracking Spidey's power and anything around it.) and even more times on books that stockpiled on my desk. Luckily, after a few more hours of work, I finally cracked the puzzle and found the right formula. Looking at my clock again, it's six o'clock in the morning.

Finally feeling sleepy and yawned, I put the two web-shooters in the drawer and collapsed on my bed, letting my eyelid fell and sleep. By the time I finally awoke, it was already nighttime. Stretching in content, I went to the living room and saw Catherine cooking dinner for us(How considerate, thanks.)

She finished dinner after a short while, smiling as she saw me sitting at the table. "Finally awake, sleepyhead?"

"Yeah." I nodded, giving her a small smile in response. "If I worried you for waking up this late... I'm sorry 'bout that,"

"You don't need to apologize, sweetheart." Catherine lightly knocked my forehead, giggling. "That spider bite must be exhausting for you."

OK, she's the best aunt I'll ever have, protect her at all costs!

"But I still want to say sorry."

Catherine just smiled, putting the dinner in front of me. "You know..." She said in a soft tone, her smile quickly turned to a somber one. "You are starting to look like Jack, especially on the stubborn part."

Jack... That's my father.

"Yeah, I admit that I'm a bit stubborn," I replied with a faint smirk.

"And now you have his signature smirk."

"C'mon, he's my dad."

"I know." For the second time in fifteen minutes, she giggled again. "This is going to be the end of me." She jokingly said, and I just laughed innocently.

Yeah, living in a world which hero exists with superpower is excellent, but this is what I like in this world. Someone that you'll do anything to protect.

And at that moment, I think I found my reason to be a hero. I'll do it to protect someone's smile and hope. I may be not able to save anyone, but I'll try my best.

After some more sleep and woke up on Sunday morning, I took out my web-shooters and the new filled-web cartridge and went to the building's roof. Today I'm going to test the web and the web-shooters.

Once I'm on the roof, I crawl onto a wall which mostly unnoticed by everyone. I internally prayed and aimed my hand toward the edge of the roof. I jumped from the wall and quickly double-tapped the button in my palm. The web-shooter worked perfectly, and a strand of web line fired out and attached to the edge.

I hung my bodyweight to that only web line and... It didn't snap! Nice, I did it on the first try! OK, now both the web-shooters and the web itself was secured, it's time on the costume.

Since I'm a big fan of the Noir version of Spider-Man, I decided to use black and white as it's only coloring. And no spandex, I don't want to leave too little for the imagination.

With that said, I decided to buy a leather jacket and a ski mask. I'll make the mask like the stealth suit's one combined with Noir's goggle. I bought a goggle with a one-side glasses and snitched it to the ski mask from the inside. And with that, the mask is done!

I took a small mirror from the bathroom and tried the mask on. It looks somewhat great! Not only that, the mask feels comfortable and breathable. Taking off the mask, I tried on the black leather jacket and grabbed a pair of black jeans from my wardrobe.

I looked at my reflection from the mirror, smiling as I look like a replica of Spider-Man Noir, only that the jacket was a normal one with zipper. I took our a pair of gloves and wore them over the web-shooters, then I wore the mask.

I took a final look at my reflection and... I look great!

And with that done, I took off my costume and put them in a secret part of my wardrobe. And it's the time for the radio part.

I scrambled through the journal from my other-self. Looking for any mention of radio of anything like that. But unfortunately, I didn't found any. Sighing as I noted the time on my clock, I decided to call it a day and go to sleep.

* * *

The next day passed slowly, and I decided to have a walk with our small group, mostly because Gwen and MJ practically forced Peter and me to hang out with them. But after all, all those Spider-Man businesses must be taking a lot of time from Peter, and I want to know them better.

We got into a small restaurant at Queen, and we got something to eat. While waiting for the food to come, MJ decided to speak first and broke the silence between all of us.

"So, how's the 'new life,' Ethan?" She asked, quoting the 'new life' with her fingers.

"Great, I think." I shrugged, giving her a faint smile in the process. "I read the old diary and filled up with some past."

"I heard that you're going to do some music, right?"

"Yeah, I just bought a bass." I nodded.

Yep, I'm a bassist back in my old life.

"Oh, that's perfect!" MJ grinned, clapped her hands together. "Gwen and I are planning on forming a band!"

Peter just sighed at her sudden change in mood. "Here we go again..."

But for me? I just froze in place, and my brain just went to overdrive. So MJ and Gwen are in a band... So Spider-Gwen is going to happen in this universe too?! Oh god, what universe I got myself into!

It's a world of a fanfic. I'm sure about it.

"I'm the drummer." Gwen casually waved, sighing at MJ as well. "The band's name is Mary Jane's, or what we decided for now."

"So, you're going to recruit me?" I jokingly said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, can you be our bassist?" MJ nodded, leaning across the table to me, a bit too close to me. "Please?"

Oh no... not the puppy eyes! I'm weak to that!

I used all my strength to resist to urge to say 'yes,' but... it's not strong enough to resist MJ. C'mon, it's Mary Jane!

"Fine..."

"Yay!" MJ cheered, raising her hands in victory. "Now that's set, we're going to have our first meeting tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?!" Gwen and I exclaimed in unison, widening out eyes in disbelief.

"Poor Ethan..." Peter murmured, wincing as he noticed the glare from the redhead herself.

After giving Peter a small glare, MJ instantly changed back to her happy self. "Yeah! I've been converting my garage to a band room for a while now."

Um...Now that I've joined(Actually forced) into a band, maybe I should do some test petrol tonight. I remembered that Dad had his investigation notebook in my room, and it's mostly about gang hideout and stuffs like that.

Well, thanks, dad, even though you're not my dad.

Then our burgers came, and we ate in comfortable silence, and we talked more about music afterward. What surprised me is that Peter is a music nerd as well(He's mostly for indie music)

After a few more talk and some laughter later, we decided to call it a day and separated on our way.

Bu~t, my day is long from the end. I quickly got back to my home and my room. I changed into my costume and my web-shooters, putting on my mask, I opened my room's window and crawl to the roof.

"OK..." I peeked over the edge, shivering as I saw the height of my apartment building. "Remember what Peter said to Miles... 'Leap of Faith.'" I clapped my cheeks, taking a few steps behind.

Taking a deep breath, I dashed forward at full speed and jumped. Yeah, Web-slinging is cool and fun, but I should take it one step at the time.

With my spider power, I landed on the roof of another apartment building. I continued my dash and jumped again. Seeing that I'm not going to land of another roof, I quickly fired a string of webbing and pulled myself to that building. Landing on the roof with a roll, I paused for a second and ready to dash again.

But then, a scream from the alleyway startled me.

"HELP!"

I narrowed my eyes under the goggles and peeked over the edge. Two men were robbing a woman. OK, one man was holding a knife in his hand while the other man was looking out for any threat. I stick to shadow and crawl on the wall, closer to the scene.

"Shut up, you bitch!" The man with the knife threatened, pointing his knife closer to the woman. "Johnny, is there anyone coming?"

"No, boss," Johnny replied, not aware of me.

So maybe... I can do this stealthily, just like how Noir's work in Shattered Dimension. Nodding to myself, I crawled a bit closer and aimed at johnny.

It's going to hurt... Poor Johnny.

I fired two lines of webbing, attaching at his shoulders and pulled him up. "AHHH!" His screaming was fortunately silenced by a punch to his face, knocking him out. I webbed him to the wall and turned my focus back onto the alleyway.

"Johnny?" The other man yelled, eyes darting around in fear. "Where the fuck are you?"

The woman just took a few steps back in fear, her eyes locked to the shadow.

The man steps forward, swinging his knife everywhere in more fear. Taking this as my opportunity, I jumped down and landed right behind him. Not letting him have any time to react, I turned him around and punched his face hard, knocking him out.

I fired some webbing to keep him in place(on the wall) and turned around, walking closer to the woman. "You're OK, miss?" I asked.

The woman hesitated for a while before nodding. "Y-yeah, I'm fine..." She shuttered, taking a few moments to process the situation. "Thank you, Spider-Man."

"Uh... I'm not Spider-Man." I awkwardly said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I just have the same power as him."

"T-Then how should I call you?"

How to call me? Oh wait, I never thought of the name of my hero identity. Um... I'm a fan of Noir and this costume is basically a replica of his outfit... So Spider-Man Noir?

No, that's too lame.

Just Noir?

No, that should be a nickname.

Noir-Spider?

Jesus, that was stupid.

So back to just Noir?

Yeah, that's a unique enough name for me.

"Call me Noir, miss," I replied, giving her a wink under the goggles(I think she didn't see that).

The woman nodded. "Thank you, Noir."

OK, now that's cringy. But since I can't think of a new and better name, I guess I'll stick with it for now.

"I think you should call 911, let the police handle the rest," I said, gesturing to the two robbers who were still webbed and knocked out. "Now I have someone else to help, see ya."

I winked again(OK, I think she saw it this time.) and jumped to the rooftop — time for more patrol.

I continued running through rooftop to rooftop, stopping someone stealing a car and someone else stealing a bicycle(Just like that one in Homecoming.). Then I decided to take a small break.

And that was the moment that I saw 'him.'

Spider-Man was swinging through the street I was next, giving me a good look at his costume. He was wearing the Stark suit. I mean that same Stark suit. Then, my Spider-Sense suddenly buzzed, and he turned his around and saw me.

His eyelid widened in surprise, and I waved at him casually, smiling under my mask before turning toward the opposite direction. Now back onto my petrol.

I don't know what I'll have to face, super villain, complicated love life(One thing that must exist in a Superhero's life, unfortunately), loss of loved ones...

Yes, I'm not Spider-Man, but I'll try my best to protect those smiles.


	2. Chapter 2

Right after the unexpected meeting with the webhead himself, I jumped across a few more rooftops before landing near a storage facility. But I'm not coming here to an accident. This storage facility was owned by a gang called 'The Animals' and mainly used for human traffic.

Side note, this is not Cyberpunk 2077. The two gangs happen to have the same name.

Anyway, I noticed about five snipers on the rooftop. Those red lasers only highlighted their position for me.

I jumped from my rooftop and landed on the lamp across the street, then I pulled myself to the facility's wall and dashed along with it. I web zip myself to a small light on top of a door. Seeing that one of those five snipers was clear to perform a takedown, I fired three lines of web and pulled him toward me.

Before that sniper can scream or grunt, I gave his head a two hard punch and tied it up to the lamp(I love Noir in Shattered Dimension, so I'll use his fight style.). Then I jumped down and sneaked up to another sniper. I fired another line of webbing to his head and pulled. The poor guys' kissed the ground hard, and I webbed him up as well.

"Two down, three more go," I whispered to my self, noting an opened window close to the other three snipers.

I fired another line of webbing to the third sniper's head, repeating the same process to knock him our and instantly fired another line of webbing. This time the webbing attached to the sniper's feet, and he fell over the edge, being hung in mid-air by my webbing. Now finally alerted, the final sniper turned his rifle to the source of the grunt and screaming, only to see that no one but his webbed up colleges.

"S-Spider-Man?!" He shuttered, aiming his rifle frantically to everywhere. "Why would he knows about our hideout here?"

Landing behind him silently, I crept up to his back. "Because I'm not Spider-Man," I whispered to his ear, before doing a right hook to his head as well, knocking him out and webbed him up.

Knowing that my work is far from over, I slipped through the opened window and landed on the stell crossbeam at the ceiling. The facility was brightly lited, with tons of gun-wielding gang members patrolling and chatting with each other. Man, this feels like a hideout from the PS4 game.

However, there's one problem, in the corner of the bottom floor was a large cargo container. I fear that'll be the place they store those peoples for transportation... Other than that, I don't know the exact number of guards here. What can I do...

I closed my eyes and thought, trying to find a solution when suddenly a wave spread out from me. The wave scanned the whole facility and showed everyone and everything here.

What did I do? Is that... my Spider-Sense just scanned the whole thing and showed the important part for me? From what I witness, it seems to be the case. Smirking under my mask, I looked around and counted the number of guards here. They were all highlighted by their heartbeat and glow in red.

"Sixteen guards," I whispered to myself, glancing at the container. "...Holy shit."

There were... how many... about forty peoples in that container and all of them are young girls! Shit, they're going to be sent to somewhere bad or even worse. I need to clear this place ASAP, but this place is brightly lited... how can I do this stealthily?

I decided to trust my Spider-Sense and closed my eyes again, the 'Spider-Wave' (I just made that up) spread again and highlighted the wire spread across this place. I followed the wires and found the junction box. Yeah, a blackout would be nice

I jumped down from the beam to the upper floor's railing, and then I do another flip to the ceiling of the ground floor. Sticking to shadow and dodging the guards, I landed on the front of the junction box and turned it off. Sparks were coming out from the box as I turned it off, and every light of this place gone out, covering this facility with darkness.

Well, on that 'darkness' part, it only applied to those inadequate guards. For me? The whole world just turned black and white, and I'm still able to see(Thanks to my Spider-Wave, or did I have night vision as my additional power?).

"What just happened?" One of the goons asked out loud, turning on the flashlight on his rifle. "Ben, check the junction box."

Ben nodded. "Yes, boss."

"Everyone! We got company, turn on the flashlight!"

With that said, sixteen flashlights lighted up and searched the for me. But, sticking to the shadow and avoiding their torches. Then I landed back on the beams and smirked as I saw one unnoticed guard right beneath me.

I fired two lines of webbing and pulled him up to the beams. His scream ended when I gave his head a hard punch. Knowing that my position is very likely to be exposed, I quickly relocated myself to somewhere else.

I took them down one by one, infusing fear in their hearts as their numbers decreasing steadily. After taking down about ten of that crowd, the remaining six guards finally come up with a plan and grouped.

"W-who the fuck is that!" One of those guards shouted into the darkness, pointing his guns everywhere. "Show yourself, you fucker!"

Nah, why would I? I slowly walked on the railing and took one of them down. The group instantly turned their attention toward the screaming and only caught a glimpse of me. Nevertheless, they still opened fire and hit nothing.

Since I have the high ground, I decided to use my speed as my advantage and quickly took them down one by one. They keep pointing their guns toward the screaming but only to see nothing.

Finally, there are only one of those guards left; he keeps pointing his rifle to everywhere and shivering in pure fear. I smirked under my mask and jumped down behind him.

"W-who are you?" The poor guys shuttered, his shivering only worsens when he saw one of those webbed up guard. "S-Spider-Man? Don't tell me he's already here-"

Before he can finish his sentence, I reached him from behind and grabbed him by his neck. "I'm not Spider-Man," I whispered to his ear, releasing him and knocked him out.

Webbing the final guards up, I jogged to the junction box and turned the light back on. The guards all webbed up and hanging on the beam. And it looks like something come out of a horror movie!

"I think I went a bit overboard." I shrugged, walking up the container, and used my Spider-Wave again.

Their heartbeat was swift, mostly because of what just happened. I ripped the lock out from the container and touched the doors. I focus myself not to let it go and pulled.

After tearing the doors out, I turned around to see what's inside. "Oh shit," I whispered at sight.

The container was dark and cold, and those young girls were in bad shape. They looked like they haven't eaten for days! Some of them were out and about die too!

The girls turned toward me and shrank, cuddling together to stay away from me.

"It's OK, I'm here to save you," I said in the kindest tone I can, casually waving at them. "It's alright."

The girls only continued to shrink in fear, but one of them decided to break the ice between us. "W-who are you?" She said, barely louder than a whisper.

"I'm Noir." I crouched down, smiling under the mask(I hope they can see it.) "The guards here had been taken care of."

The girls glanced at the scene behind me, weakly nodded, and I stood back up and took out my phone, dialing 911.

_"911, what's your emergency?"_

OK, how should I explain that I take care of this whole place on my own and found about forty girls in critical situations? Fuck it. I'll tell her the truth.

"Uh... I'm in a storage facility in Harlem and found that a gang for human traffic controls this place."

There was a moment of silence on the other side. _"Wait, what did you say?"_

"I'm in a storage facility in Harlem and found that a gang for human traffic controls this place," I repeated, glancing back at the girls. "Some of them are in critical situations. Please send someone here, fast."

_"B-but you just said that a gang controls this place-"_

"I took care of them," I smirked under my mask. "There are twenty-one guards here, so I think you should send some more men here as well."

_"You took care of them?"_

"Yeah, and the web will dissolve after an hour."

_"Web? Are you Spider-Man?"_

"No, I'm not him," I said. "Please call me Noir."

With that said, I cut the call and turned back to the girls. Overhearing that cops are coming to help them, they visually relaxed, and smiles started to creep up on their faces.

"OK, girls," I clapped my hands together, gaining the attention of everyone. "The cops are coming to help you, and I'm sorry that I'm not going to stay in here for long."

"Just trust them." I winked at them and web-zipped myself out of the facility. Standing back onto the rooftop and crouched on edge, I noticed a few police cars and an ambulance coming.

"Well, time for me to leave." I fired a line of webbing and pulled myself to the building next to the facility.

I continued my parkour and ran back to my apartment. I'll be looking forward to the news tomorrow.

* * *

After taking a night of good sleep and walked back to Midtown high, my action was the talk of the town in school!

"Dude, have you heard of the new Spider guy?"

"Yeah! I heard that he just saved a lot of girls from being sold out!"

"Noir... That's a lame name."

Well, not that one.

Anyway, I quickly walked to my locker and packed the books for today's lessons. But a tap on my shoulder caused me to exclaim in shock.

"AHH!"

I turned around and saw Gwen covering her ears in pain. "Shit, I'm sorry, Gwen!" I quickly apologized, taking a look for her ears to see if there are any injuries.

"I-I'm fine..." Gwen trailed off, smacking my shoulder in slight anger. "But you're so loud! Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack..."

"I didn't expect someone just to tap my shoulder." I deadpanned, sighing, and zipped up the now full bag. "I'm sorry, Gwen."

Sighing, Gwen gave me a small notebook. "MJ told me to give it to you. It's our songs."

Oh right, band practice today.

"Thanks." I took the notebooks and stuffed it to my bag too. "So... Lunch?"

"Lunch."

* * *

After a few more boring lessons(I used those times to study those songs MJ wrote), the bell finally rang, and I got to the canteen with the little group. We sat to one of the round tables and ate our lunch.

After a short while, MJ decided to break the ice between us. "Hey, have you seen the news?"

"Oh, you're talking about the new spider vigilantes?" Gwen raised an eyebrow, taking another bite on her bread.

"I saw it on the news," Peter said, taking a sip of his water. "I think he called himself Noir, right?"

"Yeah, Noir." The blonde agreed. "But dad was kinda relieved by his appearance."

OK, I should keep quiet for now, best not to gain any suspicion from them, especially Peter.

"Relieved?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That place was controlled by a gang called 'The Animals', one of the worst gang in Harlem," Gwen explained. "Dad said that they've been trying to find the place where they do human traffic but didn't work."

"Thankfully, with what happened last night, the human traffic network was critically damaged." She finished with a smile, leaning back on her chair. "He even said that he'd personally thank him for what he did."

Wait, I single-handedly damaged the whole human traffic network in New York? I thought that I was going to save those girls from being sold.

Well damn, the consequences were more significant than I thought.

"What was Spider-Man doing while this happened?" MJ asked, furrowing her brow.

"He was handling a robbery in the process," Gwen answered, tapping her phone and show another news about Spider-Man stopping another robbery.

"Well, if not because of that 'Noir,' I think those poor girls won't see the light of day," Peter said. "So now with two spiders in this town... Hopefully, the street will get a bit safer."

"I was thinking about that too, Tiger." MJ agreed, finally noting my unusual silence about this topic. "Ethan, what do you think about that 'Noir'?"

OK... Just act like who you used to be.

"I think he just wants to help." I shrugged.

Man, it feels weird to talk about yourself and act like you're talking about someone else.

"He just wants to help?" Peter pondered for a moment, raising an eyebrow at me. "Well, that's so not you, Ethan."

"I just lost some my memories, don't you remember?" I joked, causing the two girls to giggle.

"Oops, I forgot about that."

I sighed in response.

Well, now I'm at least known in the neighborhood, I wonder what Jameson'll think about me? I bet he'll say something like 'Noir: Threat or Menace?' or 'The new threat to society.' Well, he'll always be hating on neighborhood-level heroes like Spidey or me.

Aside from Daily Bulge, I wonder when will SHIELD will come over and recruit me? I bet Nick Fury would show up in my bedroom unnoticed and say something like, 'I want to talk with you about the Avenger protocol.'

Hell, I don't even know will he looks like Samuel L. Jackson or like the original comic. I guess I should not think about those things now, one step at a time.

Time passed, and our lunch period ended, and I got back to the usual boring lessons. This time I decided to dedicate my time here to write better bassline than what MJ and Gwen wrote. Well, Gwen was a drummer, and MJ is a guitarist... they couldn't write a decent bassline.

After all, bass and guitar were two different instruments with different rules.

Once the class ended, I quickly texted MJ and Gwen that I'm going home to get my bass and get to the alleyway nearby. No, I'm not going on patrol and missing the meeting, I want to get back home ASAP.

I quickly put on my mask and wall run to the rooftop, then I promptly dashed through roof and rooftop, reaching home in inhuman pace. I sneaked into my room through the window and took my bass and my pick. Then I quickly hid out of my room and dashed toward MJ's house.

That was until I realized that... MJ's house is on the other side of Queens. Um... whatever, I'll do it anyway.

I continued my parkour through Queens and finally reached MJ's house. I took a look at my watch and luckily, I'm only late for five minutes. I quickly rang the doorbell, and MJ almost instantly rushed out and greeted me.

"Hey, sorry for being late." I waved casually with a smile.

"C'mon, you're only late for five minutes." MJ laughed at my apology, gesturing me to enter the garage next to the house. "I'll open the garage."

I nodded and walked to the garage, the small door beside opened, and MJ gestured me to come in. Wait, how did she get here this quick? Did she do a mad dash to open the door for me? I wanted to ask her about this, but seeing her beaming smile on me, it's better not to.

I stepped inside of the garage and put down my bass's bag to aside, plugging the jack cable to the spare amp she gave me. Gwen was sitting at her drum set and doing some warmup, and MJ was readying her guitar and microphone.

After a few minutes, MJ jumped in anticipation and said through her microphone. "So, let's start with some cover, shall we?"

"Cover?" Gwen and I asked in unison, glancing at each other in uncertainty.

I thought we're going to practice those songs you wrote, MJ, Not a cover.

"Uh... MJ, you never told me that we're going to do cover." Gwen hesitantly said, adjusting her glasses(Wait, when did she wore glasses?).

MJ blushed faintly from her comment, avoiding our gaze. "U-uh... Actually..." She trailed off, her blush deepened. "I'm still too shy to sing my songs..."

O... Kay...? That's unexpected.

"You're too shy to sing your songs?" Gwen coughed. Almost failed to contain her laughter. "Oh man, now that's surprising."

Out of pure embarrassment, MJ just buried her face in her palms. Her blush only deepened as we giggled from her reaction.

"I... That's so not you, MJ." I said, wincing at she glared at me through the glimpse between her fingers. "And I found that it was adorable..." I quickly added.

"Stop calling me adorable, please." The blushing redhead whispered, just enough for the both of us to hear.

"Fine, fine, fine, we'll drop this for now." The two of us said in unison, giving each other a shocked look before turning back to MJ.

Now a bit recovered from embarrassment, MJ took out her phone and played something. "Uh... I'm sorry that I forgot to get the sheet music for this song..." She murmured, giving Gwen and me an awkward smile. "But I think you're able to play along with it. It's pretty easy."

I hesitantly nodded. Oh wait, it's Vincent from Car Seat Headrest! The whole song only consists of two open chord cycling through each other (And two more in the chorus)... So that's why MJ wants to play this...

Oh boy.

I searched anything about Car Seat Headrest in my head and found the basslines for this song. Thankfully, the intro was so long (You'll know it when you heard that song)that I've fully remembered the whole lines before my part started to play.

Gwen, on the other side, was a bit caught off guard from the drumming part, but she still able to keep up with us and added some fills in the process. The three of us played for hours and had a fun time.

After about four or five hours of playing and covering some songs (We do have a break in the middle.), we decided to call it a day and separated to our way. I decided to save my webbing and had a slow walk back to my home, texting Catherine in the process.

The band went well, I think.

* * *

Once I'm back home and had dinner with Catherine, I got back to my room and opened my notebook. Well, Jameson was kinda angered at my appearance, calling me a 'Real menace to the society.'

I kept my laughter and listened to the podcast. I won't describe what just said over there but... It's just a thirty-minutes rant about me, and it's a biased one. But it's expected from the famous J Jonah Jameson.

I then turned my focus on making a device to receive the police's radio. The frequency was easy to find; it only took me about fifteen minutes to get that. But the problem is that... I need a device that'll consistently receive their conversation and alert.

But... I don't have a radio to customize and use it as the base frame.

Fine... I'll buy a radio tomorrow.

With that said, I quickly put on the costume and crawl to my rooftop. It's time for Noir to patrol again.

Since I'm still not brave enough for web-slinging, I'm still stuck on parkouring on rooftops and only use my web like a grappling hook. What's interesting is that... it's hushed today. No one was being mugged. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing.

Hmphing in content, I did some more parkour before coming across a jewel store. The store's glass wall was broken, and I stopped, leaning over the edge to see what exactly happened.

"Don't tell me that it's her..." I murmured, jumping down and landed on the street lamp across the street. "It's awfully quiet..."

I got down from the street lamp and entered the jewel store, using my Spider-Wave to see if there's anyone here. I walked cautiously and continually looking around for any danger.

Until a red mark suddenly appeared in my sight. "Oh great, it's her." I sighed, ready for anything.

But before I can even hold up my hands, the red mark suddenly closed on me at incredible speed and jumped on me. Luckily, with Spider-Sense's warning, I quickly lean backward and narrowingly dodged her attack.

After missing me, the silver-haired figure quickly jumped out from the jewel store and fired her grappling hook, pulling herself to the rooftop.

OK, let's be honest. We all know who she is. The one and only Felicia Hardy, A.K.A Black Cat.

"Hey, wait!" I exclaimed, quickly firing my web and pulled myself to the rooftops as well.

The two of us kept dashing at full speed, jumping from rooftop to rooftops. Thankfully, with time went on, the distance between us started to expand as she began to pick up her pace.

'It's not or never, Ethan!' I thought to myself and fired a line of webbing to the door next to Black Cat and pulled, I flew in the air and caught her as I landed. The two of us rolled on the ground for a good few rolls before stopping. And I'm being pinned to the ground by her.

Black Cat smirked and got up. "Finally got your attention Spide-" She stopped herself in mid-sentence, widening her eyes before narrowing them again. "Wait, did you just got a new costume?"

I grunted in pain. "I'm not Spidey," I said, blushing hard as I observed her costume. "A-and you're the Black Cat, right?"

So her costume was... basically the same as the old classic look, only that the latex suit had a bit more armor plating and a utility belt on her waist. And why did she kept the zipper open too? It's September.

And she looks like sixteen, great.

"You're not Spidey?" Felicia asked, totally not buying my explanation. "From what I saw, you have the same power as him."

"I'm Noir." I introduced, trying my best to avoid staring at her exposed cleavage. "I think you should've heard about me on the news."

"Noir?" She repeated, raising an eyebrow under her mask. "You mean that guy who critically damaged the human traffic network?"

"Yeah, it's me." I nodded. "And I never intended to do that, just butterfly effect."

But Black Cat just sighed and stood up. "Your costume sucks." She commented.

"I don't like wearing spandex all day." I deadpanned, getting up as well. "It left too little for the imagination, and not that practical."

Felicia just giggled in response. "That's a good reason." She said, holding out a hand for me. "And that makes you cute."

"I get that a lot." I shrugged, taking her hand and got up to my feet. "But I don't see you stole anything, why are you in that jewel store?"

"That store was a cover-up for the Dead-Bridges." She explained.

So let's hold on a minute, let me explain what exactly is Dead-Bridges.

From my dad's journal, Dead-Bridges was one of the deadliest and dangerous gangs in the street. Even though they're not involved in human traffic like The Animals, but they were engaged in other businesses like drugs, firearms, and such things. Their members were notorious for extremely loyal to their boss and deadly.

Speaking of which, their leader was a council consists of seven people, and they're named after the alphabet. (The head of the board was called Mr. A, then B, C, D... You know the drill.)

Back the reality, I widened my eyes at the mention of Dead-Bridges. "Oh shit." I cursed out loud. "You're getting involved in some big trouble."

"Yeah, I know." Felicia shrugged, taking a flash drive from her utility belt. "This is what I found in the shop, and that's what I was looking for."

A flash drive?

"They didn't hold your son as hostage, right?" I jokingly asked(The reference ***Wink*** ), only to be greeted with an unimpressed face.

"I'm still in high school." She commented, putting the flash drive back in her utility belt. "And I'm not in a mood for a relationship."

"Guessed that."

"Anyway, since I'm only stealing a flash drive from a gang, this doesn't count." Black Cat smirked. "And I'm only doing this is take down the Dead-Bridges, so leave me alone, please."

Should I leave her alone to fight with the Dead-Bridges out of anyone? I'm only the second night out, and I really should not get involved with the criminal underworld. Other than that, I'm very likely to get killed.

But... leaving her alone sounds wrong.

Huh... You're going to get yourself in some big trouble, Ethan. But you already caught the attention of The Animals. You're already neck-deep in the underworld.

"I can help you one that front," I said, stopping her in mid-walk. "I... have the locations of their hideout and other things."

"Help me?" Felicia raised an eyebrow in return, taking a few steps closer to me. "You're serious?"

"Of course, I am."

She pondered for a moment, occasionally giving me a glance or two. "You know what you're getting yourself into, right?" She asked, looking at me as if I was the biggest idiot in the world. "The Dead-Bridges is no joke."

"I know, I'm only the second night out. But..." I trailed off, looking down at the ground for a moment before looking back up. "I just don't want someone like you to take down a whole gang on your own."

"Sometimes, a partner would be great." I finished, staring right in her eyes. "After all, one girl can only do so much."

Black Cat was... stunned at my words. "You're serious about joining in..." She murmured, sighing as she pondered for whether accepting me or not. "Fine, we'll do this together."

I smiled under my mask in response. "Thanks for trusting me."

"Nah, it just that... You didn't go to that storage facility randomly, right?"

"Yeah, I know that's a cover-up for human traffic."

"Well, it seems you do have a source of those hideouts." She took out a piece of paper and a pen from her utility belt, writing something down before giving it to me. "It's my number. We should keep in touch."

Hold on. I just got her number like that?!

"O-oh, thanks." I shuttered, fliping the paper, and wrote down my number as well. Then I saved her number on my phone before giving the paper back to her. "It's my number too."

She nodded and took the paper back, stuffing it to her pocket before dashing toward the edge, disappearing into the night sky.

Oh great, what did I got myself into... 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Black Cat is here. ;)


	3. Chapter 3

After running into the Black Cat and got me into some serious business, I returned home and quickly took out my father's old journal, not even bothering to change from my costume.

"Dead-Bridges..." I murmured to myself, turning the pages to the one about them. "OK, hideout..."

I opened another drawer and took out a map of New York, stamping it up to the wall and started to circle the locations with a red marker. Well, their network was bigger than I thought. There at least five or six buildings under their arms in every area!

And the worst thing is that... It looks like their locations are random, with no pattern or anything even close to that. Well, maybe I should take down one of the buildings and interrogate one of them for more information.

But... as much as I want to have a spare number only for Noir... I'm still too poor for that, Catherine is still barely able to cover our expenses, it's impossible to pay for a new number simultaneously. I think I'll have to bear the risk that someone may track my signal and found this place...

I sighed and shook my head, let's call it a day and handle the things tomorrow. I quickly changed from my costume to my pajamas, drifting to sleep while internally hoping that Catherine won't hear me.

After that, a whole passed with nothing happened.

Well, I'm back for the usual boring classes at school again. Gwen told me that there's no practice today since her parents are visiting from LA, so I... have no plan for anything today.

Um... not that exactly.

Remember what Black Cat said when I joked about her son being kidnapped?

_"I'm still in high school."_

Yep, I'm curious that if Felicia is also in Midtown High or not.

I'm just curious, I mean it.

I wondered around the school and searched for our favorite silver-haired beauty. And... I looked like a creep and a huge nerd. I tried my best to avoid the weird look from others and continued to look for her. But after a few walks around the whole Midtown High, I decided to give it up and went to buy a radio for the transmitter.

Until a girl suddenly bumped into me and we both fell, the books in her hand got scattered on the ground. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She quickly apologized, frantically got up from me, and packing up the books. "I didn't saw you there."

Urgh... What's with my luck today? Getting knockdown by a girl after not finding the one I'm looking for. And my Spider-Sense didn't work! Wait, why did my Spider-Sense not work?

I grunted and adjusted my glasses. (Actually, I don't need them. I wear them to look a bit more like a nerd.) OK, Ethan, don't be harsh on girls, she didn't mean to bump into you.

"It's fine, you don't need to apologize," I said, rubbing my neck awkwardly as I'm getting up.

"But it's my fault that you-" She paused in mid-sentence, widening her eyes under her rounded glasses. "E-Ethan?"

WAIT, why did she call me by my first name?! D-did I know her?

"H-huh?"

"It's me, Felicia, Felicia Hardy!" She beamed. "I know we've not seen each other for years now, and I've changed a lot."

...Wait a fucking minute.

She's Felicia Hardy?!

She's not the same person I encountered last night. She looks like a bookworm! Uh... She's a silver-blonde. But her chest is... flat. Hey, she has a round glasses out of all things!

"F-Felicia?" I shuttered, adjusting my glasses again. "I don't know you have heard it or not, but I lost some of my memories after that spider bites back in field trip..."

Well, using amnesia as a cover story was a bad idea, you know. How would Gwen, MJ, and others react to that? So I told them that I lost a part of my memories and went on with it. (And the excuse that I didn't fully wake up back then as the reason that I didn't recognize them at first.)

Thank god that the other Ethan had a habit of keeping a journal.

"Lost some of your memories?!" Her smile visibly disappeared as she heard my word and changed into a somber one. "Y-you don't remember me?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember you." I awkwardly rubbed my neck again, avoiding her gaze. "D-did we know each other in the past?"

OK, Ethan Turner of this world, can't you just gave me your memories as well? You know, it's incredibly awkward for me not to know what the hell is with my relationships!

"I-I'm your childhood friends," Felicia explained, still giving me a somber face. "We used to play together as a kid... until middle school as I'm moved to LA..."

Huh?! Felicia Hardy is my childhood friend?! What are you, Ethan Turner, of this world! O-ok, don't make her cry or anything, be kind and get out of this conversation, fast.

"W-well, maybe it's the memory loss from the spider bite or something else... But sorry, I don't remember," I said with an apologetic look, trying my best not to sound too formal. "But maybe you can-"

She suddenly held her hand up, interrupting me in mid-sentence. "It's fine..." She trailed off, heavily sighed before looking back up with a bitter smile. "I... I'll go on my way."

With that said, Felicia quickly turned around and walked away from me. Well, you fucked it up, Ethan. Why can't I have my other self's memories?! Great, how can I fix it up? Uh...

Wait, I can't fix it up, but Noir can give her advice. Y-yeah, maybe I can talk to her in costume. How can Peter manage those relationships with all those women!

O-ok, let's not think about that now, radio is more important.

After that awkward meeting with Felicia, I quickly rushed out of Midtown and got to a small electronics shop and bought a cheap second-hand radio (And a broken smartphone). Then I got back to my home and started working.

I found the right frequency for the police radio and then took it apart, then I took out the broken phone and took that apart as well. Then I started to combine the two things, patching things here and there. After a few hours of work, I finally finished the police radio receiver.

I need a better name for that.

Anyway, after I finished with this thing, I quickly changed into my costume and leaped out of my room's window, landing on the rooftop of the other building.

I took out the receiver and turned it on. "Let's see if there's any crime nearby..." I murmured to myself, narrowing my eyes under the goggles.

Fortunately, it's quiet for today too. Well, that means it's another quiet day for New York. As much as I hate you, Wilson Fisk, you did a great job of keeping the street in check.

With that out of the way, now for the other big issue. I need a talk with Felicia.

Dialing her number and waited for a few buzzes, Felicia finally answered and she... sounded like shit.

"N-Noir?" Even though the slightly distorted sound of the phone, I can still hear that she's trying her best to not break down on me. "W-what happened?"

"I got some locations for Dead-Bridges' hideout," I said. "But you're not in the mood for this, right?"

"N-no, I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine." I sighed, sitting down to the edge of the rooftop. "If you need someone to talk to, I can."

"I-I'm..." There were a few seconds of pure silence before she finally answered. "Fine, where are we meeting?"

"Um... How about the rooftop of that building close to Danny's." I said, looking over to Danny's- A restaurant I'm used to eating with Catherine. "You don't need to rush here. I'll wait for you."

"I-I..." She shuttered. "OK, I'm coming."

And with that, she ended the call, leaving me alone on the roof. Well, let's hope that she's... No, she's not OK at all. I sighed at this thought and hugged my legs, staring at the night sky in silence.

After for... how long? Whatever, after a long while, Black Cat finally arrived. She slowly walked next to me and sat down, looking into nothingness too.

"Hey, cat." I greeted, turning back at her with a glance. Well, she got some makeup on, but it still can't hide the fact that she just had a breakdown. Those red eyes don't lie.

She didn't answer me, still staring at nothingness with a somber face.

"Well, what happened? I'm all ears for you."

OK, that sounded like a cheesy pick-up line. But I looked genuine, right? I hope so... The silence between us is deafening.

A few moments later, Felicia finally opened her mouth. "Um... I had a friend, a childhood friend."

"I'm sensing a 'He' there." Well, her 'childhood friend' is right next to her, just wearing a mask on his face.

"Yeah, it's a 'He.'" She nodded. "We've lost contact for years, and I met him again earlier today..."

"He's already taken?" I asked, raising an eyebrow under my mask. I know, it's not easy to pretend tas someone else, but I need not let her doubt me.

"No, or what I think so." Black Cat replied, hugging her legs close. "He... had already forgotten about me and moved on."

"Oh, that's gotta be tough to handle."

"I think 'tough to handle' is an understatement."

"Um... Well, I'm not that good with comforting someone else, but..." I paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "If he completely forgot about you... Then try to rebuild that relationship with him."

OK, this is weird, giving someone else advice to get closer to yourself.

"But he... He already got friends of his own."

Oh shit, I forgot about that.

"You can join that group of friends to get closer to him," I suggested, stretching my legs over the edge. "With beauty like you, there are no problems for you to join a new group."

"I'm not like this in private."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I don't know why, but... I can't act like how I was with Spidey when I'm around you."

"Hmm?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion.

However, Felicia just deadpanned. "What's with that look?"

"I'm curious."

"Curious for what?"

"What you're like with Spidey."

"U-uh..." She trailed off and looked away, a hint of a blush crept on her cheek. "I-it was... cringy, to say the least."

"I think I can handle the cringe." I shrugged, moving a little bit closer to her. "Curiosity won't kill me."

Felicia giggled at my little joke. "U-uh... I was a little bit... seductive around Spidey?"

Oh right, she was seductive around Peter. I remembered the time I played the DLC for the PS4 game, and ...the sexual tension was real. Poor MJ...

Oh wait, that's not the point.

"Seductive?" I tilted my head again, adjusting my goggles. "I can't see you like that?"

"But that's how I was." Black Cat said, suddenly leaning closer to me. "I can demonstrate it to you." She whispered, smirking seductively at me.

"Y-you're already doing that." I shuttered, leaning away from her.

No, I didn't dislike the fact that her lips are just millimeters away from mine, and I could lean in and kiss her (Who wouldn't?). It's just that we're only known for a week. It's a bit too quick for us.

I gently pushed her back, noting the disappointed look from her. "What's with that look?" I asked. "Don't tell me that you're disappointed that I didn't kiss you."

Felicia instantly shook her head. "No!" She exclaimed, her cheeks painted in deep red as she blushed hard. "I-I told you that I was not in the mood for relationships."

"I remember that."

"Y-yeah! Don't expect that I'm going to start flirting with you or even date you." She said in a rush, her blush only further reddened as time goes on.

"I'll keep that in mind." I smiled under my mask, hoping that she's going to notice that.

Felicia nodded, turning her focus back to the view in front of her. "Now that's out of the way, what should we do now?" She asked. "You didn't call me because you did get locations about Dead-Bridges, right?"

Oh... how can I explain myself out of this? Because I'm Ethan himself? No, no, no, that's not possible, at least for now. Uh... Because I want to see her? That's too creepy... I did have some locations of Dead-Bridges hideout and other facilities. Did I bring them here?

"I did have some locations," I explained, searching for the notes I wrote before going out. "But, you just sounded like breaking down."

Technically, I didn't lie to her.

Her eyes widened at my explanation. "You're serious?"

"Of course!" I nodded, finally pulling out the notes I stuffed deep in my pocket and gave it to her. "I even got the locations here."

She opened the note and read it. "W-wow, your locations did match with those documents on that flash drive."

Flash drive? What was that- Oh! That flash drive she stole from that jewel store.

"Oh, about that flash drive," I said, adjusting my goggles. "What's inside it?"

Felicia just sighed and stretched her arms. "It's just some locations for their hideout and some names."

"At least that's better than nothing."

"Yeah." She shrugged.

And silence fell between us again. But this time it's more comfortable than before, her red eyes were gone, and a faint smile appeared on her face. Yeah, she's better now.

I smiled under my mask, not noticing the side glance she gave me.

"Noir, are we just going to sit here and waste our time?" She said, causing me to tilt my head in slight confusion.

"No, just nothing happened, like for real."

"But your phone is buzzing." Felicia plainly stated, pointing at my jacket's pocket.

Huh? My phone isn't is that pocket- It's the radio! I set it up to buzz when an emergency call was announced on the radio, which that means...

There must be something big going on.

I took out the radio and pressed on the 'Receive' button on the screen, the screen turned from red to green, and a voice rang out.

"Attention all unit, there is a serious car crash at 69th and 51st. Ambulances are required."

A car crash... I need to be there ASAP. But with Cat here, I can't just leave her alone. Oh man, what should I do now? Telling her that I need to help them and can't be here a little longer? Maybe-

"You don't need to worry about me, just go and help them." Cat suddenly said, shifting her glance straight at me. "After all, I need some time to think too."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, 120%." She sighed, pulling me up and pushing me toward the other side. "Go and help them. I'll be fine."

Seeing the determined look in her eyes, I sighed and stopped resisting her push. "Fine... I hope that you're feeling better than the thingy with your childhood friend."

"I'm a bit better now," Felicia admitted, shrugging as she continued to push me toward the crash scene. "I owe you a 'Thank You.'"

"You didn't owe me anything. I just want to protect your smile."

With that said, I instantly dashed forward and jumped, rushing to the scene of the car crash. As for how did Felicia react to my response? Um... I don't know. Let's hope that we're not going to be awkward for the next time we met... I hope.

* * *

Dashing and web zipping through the rooftops, I arrived at the scene in just a few minutes. The crash was... horrible. At least four cars crashed to each other, and two of them were flipped upside down. Two trucks were flipped sideways to the walkway, and god knows how many people were trapped in it.

I closed my eyes and activated my Spider-Wave, scanning the scene. Well... shit. There are about ten people trapped in those cars, six adults, and the others are children. I need to get them out ASAP.

I quickly jumped down from the building and rushed to one of the cars. The passager seems to be a family; the kids in there are terrified while the mother was knocked out. With the blood dripping down from her forehead, the clock inside my head quickened.

Touching the car door and internally hoping that my hand won't accidentally slip off, I forcefully ripped the front car door off and gently lifted the mother out of the car. I quickly fired a small amount of webbing to her forehead, hoping that it's going to stop the bleeding. Then I punched the glass of the back doors and ripped the door out from the inside, holding my hand out to the two kids.

However, the kids(they seem to be brother and sister) only more terrified than before, clutching to each other and stayed as far away from me. "It's OK. I'm here to help you," I said, trying my best to reassure them.

They didn't answer, just continued to back away from me.

Well, I didn't make the mask to be intimidating, but they're kids. I sighed and backed away, getting out of their way and turned my focus back onto the mother. However, another voice from behind startled me.

"So, you're the Noir."

I turned around and... It was Spider-Man. Or should I call him Peter? Whatever, I'll call him Spidey for now. He was standing on the car which that family-owned, his eyelid narrowed in suspicion.

"I don't think it's the best time to talk. There are more people trapped," I said, pointing at the other cars around. "Priority."

Spidey followed my finger and noted the other trapped civilians. "You're right." He murmured, rushing to the other car and started getting them out.

Turning my focus back to the mother, I quickly fired some webbing and made a makeshift bandage. Then, I fired some more webbing on her wound and wrapped the bandage on it and around her head.

Hearing some faint grunt from her and seeing her eyes started to open, I turned my focus to the kids. "Hey kids, look after your mother," I said, pointing at the truck behind them. "I have more people to help, but I have faith in you."

Seeing the nod from them, I leaped passed the car they owned and rushed to the flipped over the truck. Activating Spider-Wave again, I scanned the car, and there's only one person trapped in the driver seat.

I rushed to the truck and fired two lines of web and pulled the windshield off. "Hey! You're OK?" I exclaimed, tearing his seatbelt off and took him out from the truck. "Hey?"

Shit, he's unconscious.

I turned to peter, and he already rescued the other civilian from their cars. Well, he's a professional hero, kind of. "Spidey!" I called out, gaining his attention. "He's unconscious! I need some help!"

Spider-Man turned to me and quickly jumped to my side, examining the unconscious man. "I think he's OK, just let the police and the professionals to handle them." He said, pointing at the ambulance coming.

Oh, right. We're not professional, just let the medical staff did their work. We waited for the ambulance to arrive and help the medical staff to put the injured to the ambulance. "Thank you, Spider-Man." One of the team thanked. "You too, uh..."

"Noir," I said.

The staff awkwardly giggled. "Thank you too, Noir, even though that's a... a name, for sure."

"Well, I just can't think of a better name." I shrugged, lightheartedly saluted at him, and pulled myself to the roof of a nearby building. Spidey quickly followed me and landed on the roof as well. "Hey!" He called out. "I have something to tell you."

"Something to tell me?"

"Yeah," He nodded, pulling out two pieces of paper card from his pocket (Or something like that.) and gave it to me. "I was skeptical of what your intention was, but you seem to have a good heart."

"O...K?"

"...It feels weird to found out that you're not the only one with spider power." He admitted, his eyelid closed for a second before opening again. "You also got bitten by a radioactive spider, right?"

"Yeah," I shrugged, taking a good to the paper card he gave me. It was plain white, only has a name with a phone number on it. "Sheriff Yuri Watanabe? Who was that?"

Hmm... Yuri Watanabe? So there's also element from the PS4 game too? Wait, I think she's also in the comic as well... Uh... right! Wraith! So she's still the good but professional cop here... Sort of?

"Yuri is my only friend in the police," Peter explained, putting his hands on his hips. "But from what she told me, Captain Stacy was thankful for what you did."

"I know," I said, pocketing the paper card. "I heard that too."

"Well, just call her if you need someone to take care of hideout." He awkwardly shrugged.

"You're leaving me alone to do my own business?"

"We're around the same age, Noir," Spidey explained, sighing. "And from what it seems, you're more on the underworld side."

Well, he's right. Cat and I are going after Dead-Bridges, it's probably for the best for us to only cross path when necessary. He should be a friendly neighborhood.

"I won't disagree with that." I shrugged, adjusting my goggles. "But if you need help on something, I'm here to help."

"But how can I know that you're coming to help?" He asked, raising an eyelid in confusion.

I took out my radio and showed it to him. "I'll know when something did happen," I answered. "Or I'll just call Ms. Watanabe."

Seeing a nod from him, I turned around and dashed away. Stopping after leaping across a few more buildings, I took out my phone and dialed the number Spidey gave me.

The phone buzzed a few times before it stopped. "Sherrif Watanabe." A voice of a young woman, possibly in her mid-twenties or even early-twenties, rang out through the phone. "Who is this?"

"Um... Ms. Watanabe, I am Noir." I awkwardly introduced myself, sitting down at the edge of the rooftop. "Spider-Man gave me your number."

"Oh, great... Another spider hero to handle..." She sighed, briefly paused for a moment before talking again. "You're not going to give me a cringy joke or something like that constantly?"

"No, I'm more a serious person," I answered, shaking my head. "But you're going to hear a lot from me."

"Huh? Why?"

"Me and my partner were going after a huge underworld organization," I explained. "Did the name Dead-Bridges ring a bell to you, sheriff?"

There was another brief silence from the other side before Yuri opened her mouth again. (She's must be trying to process as quickly as possible.)

"Y-you're serious?"

"I know a lot about them, and how dangerous they are," I said, staring at the night view of Queens. "But, my partner and I can deal with them."

"You've got to be kidding me..."

"Just save this number as 'Noir,' I'll contact you again when we have new progress." With that said, I cut the call and saved the number as 'Yuri.'

I took a look at the time and... It's almost midnight now. Well, Catherine's going to worry about me. Let's call it a night and get back home. I'm somewhat tired too. And with the band meeting tomorrow, I need to get up early.

However, I just felt that everything seems so peaceful, too peaceful.

And I got a bad feeling about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter is more focused on Felicia and Ethan and develops their relationship for a bit.
> 
> And their romance will be a slow-burn one... It's going to be a long way for both of them


	4. Chapter 4

A night had passed, and a new day arrived.

Well, a few more days had passed. I did some patrol around Queens at night and encountered nothing. The street had been quiet for a while now. Well, that's for the best.

However, Cat had been very quiet since our last meeting. I wanted to see if she's safe or anything, but... I didn't know where she's lived.

But now, there was more important business to take care of.

Now, Felicia and I were in an abandoned construction site. Hiding on some ledges and used the shadow as our cover. And below us were at least ten men, and they're making some trade, at least from what she told me.

"Ten men..." Cat muttered, narrowing her eyes at the two men in the middle. "That's more than I expected."

"Yeah..." I trailed off, punching my wrist to ease the pain. "Dammit, it still hurts..."

Felicia turned at me with worry. "Rhino did some real damage on you..."

"It's fine. I took some painkillers before coming." I shrugged, taking a deep breath.

Well, where did my injuries came from? Uh... It's from two days ago.

* * *

_The battle was almost one-sided toward Rhino, Spider-Man took on a defensive stance and kept dodging Rhino's attack._

_"I can see your stamina depleting, Spider-Man." Rhino taunted to the webhead, smirking as he continued his attacks._

_"Well, I'm not as huge as you, Rhino," Spidey replied, avoiding another punch with a backflip. "I don't want to have a special sized door on everything, either."_

_Jesus, That's not funny at all._

_And my punch was too weak even to dent his armor. I need to be creative with my surroundings._

_I noted a maintenance hole cover nearby and fired a line of webbing to it, pulling it up as I jumped from the wall to the air. Tightening my grip around the web, I threw the cover with all my strength, right at his less-protected knees._

_The metal plate hit Rhino's knees, and he screamed in pain. "Who was that!" He exclaimed in rage, turning around and saw me standing between him and the roadblock._

_Without any hesitation, I fired another line of webbing and attached to the cover again. I pulled the maintenance hole cover and launched it back, this time aimed at the giant's head._

_The grey giant got knockback as the metal plate crashed with his head, grunting in more rage and charged at me. I can easily dodge his charge, but there are people behind me... I need to stop his assault before he hit the roadblock!_

_However, before I can even do anything, Spider-Man fired a few lines of webbing to Rhino's arms and pulled with all his strength. "Don't you dare!" He yelled._

_OK, I need to do something!_

_I dashed forward and gave his head a dropkick, knocking him back down with the help of Spider-Man. I immediately shot a web bullet to Rhino's hand, pinning it to the ground._

_However, before I can even take a breath of relief, Rhino ripped my web apart like nothing, standing back up and stared at me. "Shit." I murmured, shooting a line of webbing to get away from him._

_But Rhino caught my web and pulled, sending me flying toward his fist. Without any hesitation, He clutched his hand to a fist and punched me in the face._

_It hurt. It fucking hurt... Goddammit, my vision was fuzzy... Spider-Sense is buzzing like crazy... I need to get up and recover from that-_

_Before I can even react, the grey giant grabbed my head and slammed me onto the ground. "Bug." He plainly said, raising his foot and readied to crush it onto my torso._

_"No!" Spidey exclaimed, firing his web and stopped his feet before it crashed onto me. With a faint frown, Rhino tore his web off and decided to kick me in the torso._

_Then he picked me up and threw another punch at my face, sending me right at the roadblock. I crashed at the car's windshield and groaned in pain. Clutching my head, I staggered from the car toward the grey giant._

_"You... you did pack a punch, Rhino," I said and tightened my gloves, trying my best to ignore the pain. "A real... fucking punch."_

_Rhino just laughed at my words, forgetting of Spidey behind him. "You can't talk your way out Spider-" His taunt was interrupted as a web grenade suddenly attached to his back and exploded, covering him with webbing._

_"Did you just forgot about me?" Spider-Man said, running and kicked his back. "Karen, activate the electric web now! Just do it!" He said, and the web covered Rhino suddenly sparked with electricity, finally knocked him out._

_Wait, he got web grenades and electric web?! Why didn't he use it in the first place?!_

_"Spidey, can't you just use it already..." I murmured and collapsed on to the ground, gritting my teeth in pure pain._

_"Karen just won't let me use it. She said it's too unstable- Noir!"_

* * *

Anyway, it's been a few days already. I should be fine, at least for now.

However, my trains of thought were interrupted as Cat suddenly grabbed my shoulder. "They're here." She whispered, pointing at the arriving black car.

Nodding, I readied my web-shooters and used my Spider-Wave, locating every guard around. Felicia, on the other hand, took out her grappling hook and aimed at the ledge across.

"Time to stop some gang trade," She smirked, firing her hook to the ledge and pulled herself to the other side.

I turned around and spotted a sniper nearby, and it looked like no one was looking at his direction. Without hesitation, I fired a line of webbing and pulled myself toward him. I punched him in the face and knocked him out, then used some more webbing to hold him in place.

I turned around, and Cat was doing the same thing as well, knocking the other sniper out. Nodding at each other, I crouched down and listened to their conversation.

A man in a plain black suit came out from the car, walking toward another man with his arms crossed behind. "Mr. Collins, we've been expecting you." The other man said, putting a black briefcase on the table.

Mr. Collins... Well, there's no way we were going to meet someone in the head council. But that Mr. Collins looked like someone important.

"You can cut the introduction, Theodore." Mr. Collins said, examining the briefcase on the table. "So, it's the 'Blue Ice.'"

Blue Ice? What's that? Some kind of drug?

"Yes, it is." Theodore nodded, opening the briefcase to show ten tubes of blue liquid. "Once injected to the human body, the 'Blue Ice' will start to change your body structure-"

"In short, mutant-like power, right?" Mr. Collins interrupted him, closing the briefcase. "But I heard that it'd come with severe pain as cost."

"Yes, indeed." The other man nodded, a smirk crept onto his face. "However, these were modified to give the user minimal pain when injecting."

"Hmm..." Collins nodded, taking the briefcase in his hand. "Also, I heard about some rumors about the old test subject..."

"Oh, those failures." Theodore shrugged casually, crossing his arms. "If you're worried that they're going to escape, I'm sure that they'll never be able to escape."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"I'm just reassuring," Collins answered, gesturing the men behind him to hand out another briefcase onto the table. "Well, here's the million, the council will be happy to continue our business."

The council... So this 'Collins' a part of Dead-Bridges. He's going to be a fantastic lead to start.

I narrowed my eyes under the goggles, waiting for the right time to interrupt them. Cat saw my movement and knew what I was about to do, and she readied as well.

Theodore nodded, opening the briefcase to reveal the stack of money inside. "Wow, you Dead-Bridges does keep your end of the deal." He said, a big smile crept onto his face as he closed the briefcase.

OK, it's time to stop them.

As if there's an invisible link between us, we perked up at the same time. Nodding to each other, she instantly jumped down and took a lone guard down, while I fired my web to another one for a takedown.

Then I changed my position and took down two more guards, webbing them to the ledges upside-down. Felicia used the shadow as cover and her grappling hook to pull more guards closer to take down.

However, we'd only taken down a few guards when they realized we're here. "Shit, group up! Someone's here!"

Without another word, the remaining guards grouped and searched the ledges above. Collins, on the other hand, started to move toward the car while covered by the guards. And Cat was slowly approaching him as I was avoiding their sight.

She needed a distraction now.

Taking a deep breath and pulled my gloves, I jumped down the ledges to face them. Most of my features still covered by shadow. And just like what I thought, every guard turned their attention toward me, and guns pointed.

I'm not as experienced as Spidey. I'd like to stick to my fist for now.

Scanning the environment and narrowed my eyes, I rushed to one guard and punched him in the gut. Sensing my Spider-Sense's buzzing, I did a backflip and fired a web-bullet at the other guard, narrowingly avoiding the bullets.

I switched my target on him and attached a line of web on him, pulling myself and punched his face. Taking this as my opportunity, I pulled his collar and hit his face again, knocking him out.

My Spider-Sense buzzed again, warning me that two guards were about to open fire. Firing a line and attached to the rifle on my right, I pulled the gun out of his hand, throwing it to the other one on my left. Then I web-pulled the one on my right toward me and punched him, knocking him out.

Sensing two more guns pointed at me, I fired a web-line at one guard's pistol holster, pulling the pistol out to my hand. Before anyone could even react, I fired two bullets to their hands, but all of them missed.

Cursing to myself, I threw the gun away and jumped away from their bullets. Now I had to think of a way to close the distance, fast.

On the other hand, Felicia dropped down to the top of the car as Collins was about to escape. "You thought Noir would come here alone?" She said, smirking at the shock and disbelief on Collins and the others.

Without any hesitation, she jumped from the car and kicked his torso, knocking him back and dropped the briefcase. The two guards instantly held up their rifles at her, but still not fast enough before she gave him a kick on the face. Then she jumped over his shoulder and kicked his back twice, sending him right to the other guard.

The two crashed to each other, and Cat wasted no time to strike again. She dashed forward and dropkicked the two, knocking them out. Once Collins and the other two guards were taken care of, she looked at my direction and saw me started to struggle with those other men.

"Oh, no."

Back to me, the guards all decided to drop their guns and engaged me in a fistfight. Some of them took out a knife or batons to fight. Even though I didn't need to worry about being shot anymore, but it just made the whole fight worse for me.

Now they didn't need to worry about friendly fire anymore, they all attacked me every time they saw a chance. And dealing with four people at once was not easy, not easy at all.

I was about to punch one of them when my Spider-Sense suddenly buzzed, warning me for another attack from behind. Turning around and blocked the incoming knife, another guard suddenly swung his baton at my wrist, right at my wound earlier.

Even with Spider-Sense's warning, I wasn't able to dodge the attack, and it hit. "Ahh!" I screamed in pain, releasing my grip at the other man's hand and dropped onto my knees.

Sensing more warning, I quickly shook my head and webbed the hand of the one with a knife. Then I grabbed the baton coming and punched him in the face, following it up with a kick to his chest.

However, there's one person I forgot about in the whole fight, that Theodore guy. He picked up a knife nearby and went for my head, and I was too late to dodge that stab.

Fortunately, Felicia used the grappling hook and attached it to his hand. Pulling him toward her, she dashed, and spin kicked his head, knocking him out on the ground.

As the final guy looked at her in surprise, I took this as my opportunity and gave him an uppercut to the chin, sending him up into the air. And the fight was finished.

"Why would they chose to hit me there..." I muttered between heavy panting, clenching my wrist. "Cat, the briefcases."

She nodded and took the two briefcases to the table. Opening it and seeing that everything inside is not damaged, we sighed in unison. "At least we won't trigger an outbreak or something," Felicia said, closing the cases and turned at me. "Noir, what should we do with them?"

"I have contact... in the police..." I murmured, walking toward Collins on the ground. "But before calling her, we can get some information from this guy."

I webbed everyone up into one giant web net except Collins. I hung him to one of the ledged, feets barely able to touch the ground. "Wake up," I said, slapping him until he's awake.

He opened his eyes and started to struggle, but I grabbed his chin and stared at his eyes, silencing him. "I heard that you're one of Dead-Bridges," I said in a threatening tone. "You can either give us what we want, or I'll hang you upside-down until all of your blood is in your head."

He winced at the reflection on my goggles, fear written all over his face. "W-what do you want?"

"Why are you getting those compounds?"

"I-I don't know. I'm just following orders, man."

"Oh, orders." I plainly said, tightening my grip. "Then who gave you the order."

"T-the order came through multiple people..." He said, the voice distorted from my grip on his chin. "I-I get it from a person called I-Ivan, in the Franzy's."

Franzy's...

"Franzy's the club, right?" Cat suddenly added in, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

Collins only nodded desperately, clutching his eye shut. "I-if you want to go after him, h-he's not h-here right now."

"Oh, so when can we finally meet the 'Ivan?'" I said sarcastically, emphasizing the 'Ivan.'

"H-he's not in New Yo-York un-until next week."

OK then, there's the lead we needed. "Well, thank you for your cooperation," I said, knocking him out and released my grip.

"I guess this is it, for now," I turned around, shrugging.

Felicia nodded, holding her hands on her hips. "Yeah... We're only needed to wait for next week..." She trailed off, sighing and glanced at my wrist. "Hey, your wound's OK?"

"Not really," I answered, wincing as pain suddenly spread through my body. "B-but not that I can't handle it..."

"You don't look like it," She deadpanned, taking a few steps closer. "Let's just call it a night, you need some time to recover."

"You're right... But I need to make a call first," I nodded, taking out my phone and called Yuri.

_"Noir?"_

"Miss Watanabe, Cat and I just interrupted a trade between Dead-Bridges and some other organization," I explained, eyeing the two briefcases on the table. "Please send some men over to take care of those people and compounds."

_"A trade? Compound?"_

"J-just take care of the scene, it's in the construction in Midtown, the one near the park."

 _"Near the par- Oh, that one."_ Yuri paused for a moment before coming back. _"I've sent in some men toward your location. I'll just treat this as anonymous."_

"Thank you, Miss Watanabe." With that said, I cut ended the call and turned back to Felicia. "Job well done." I smiled under my mask, holding a hand up for a high-five.

Cat smiled as well, responding to my high-five. "You did well as my partner."

"You too." I giggled. "We need to watch each other's back, right?"

"Yep." Her smile widened before she took out her grappling hook and aimed at the rooftop nearby. "Well, I'll be going now, good night."

"Good night." I waved, taking a deep breath to ease my pain before pulling myself to another rooftop, and we went on our way.

* * *

[The next day, Midtown High.]

Even though I've accustomed to the fact both Noir and Spider-Man were the talks of the town, but I couldn't help but noticed the shift in topic. After all, Christmas was only about a few months away. Now, Peter, MJ, and Gwen were sitting in the canteen, enjoying our lunch.

"Everyone's talking about the party..." I sighed, shifting my focus from the others to my three friends. "C'mon, it's months away..."

"Well, they're excited and looking forward to it." Peter shrugged, taking another bite to the bread. "But, I bet they're only interested in the dance."

"Ah... The dance." MJ sighed heavily at the mention of 'dance,' dropping her fork to the tray. "I hate it."

"Relax, Mary." Gwen giggled, playfully nudging her shoulder. "I know it sucks to not able to play at the party..."

"But we practiced so long for this day..."

"There's more chance to play on stage, MJ," Peter said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I'm agreed with him." I nodded, shifting my bangs aside. "Just... don't focus too much on 'now.'"

"Easy for you to say that, Ethan," MJ smirked, nudging my shoulder with her's. "Now, let's just forget about it and enjoy our lunch."

With that said, we returned to our lunch again in silence. But there's something weird... Ever since my conversation with Felicia that night, I always felt like someone's watching me. And it's creepy...

Maybe I could go to the lockers and see if that person will follow me or not. And now I just finished my lunch, and it'll be an excellent excuse. "Oh, I just forgot some books in my locker." I lied, standing up with the tray in my hand. "See you in class, I guess."

"Huh? Ethan, where are you going-" Before Peter could even finish, I rushed away and toward the corridors. Leaving Peter, MJ, and Gwen started at my back with questions.

"Uh... What happened to him?" Gwen asked, eyes darting between them. "Any idea?"

"No, not at all," MJ answered, shaking her head.

However, Peter stared at a table at the other end of the room. "Wait... Felicia?"

* * *

[Corridor]

Once I had left the canteen and headed toward somewhere else, I sensed someone following me. '...Yep, my theory is true.' I thought, stopping in mid-walk and turned around.

...And It was Felicia.

Widening her eyes in shock and surprise, she quickly regained her composure and shyly waved at me. "H-hi, Ethan."

"You're following me?" I asked, raising an eye. "I know someone's been staring at me for days now."

Felicia blushed, avoiding my gaze as she was trying to look for an excuse. "U-Uh..." She stammered. "Yeah... It's me..."

"Why? You can just talk to me or something." I asked again, tilting my head in slight confusion.

"B-but you forgot about me, right?" She said, meeting my gaze as she shifted her glasses. "You remembered Peter, MJ, and Gwen, but not me..."

"And it's kind of awkward... You're always with them..."

"O-oh, you're not into the crowd..." I nodded, taking a step closer to her. "Well, you can pick up your courage to have some new friends... I guess."

"I used to have you, at a minimum," Felicia said. "But since you met with them, we drifted apart, and now you'd completely forgot about me... How could I just greet you again as nothing had happened?"

"B-but about that one time, you act like you don't know I'm in Midtown too."

"It's just an act. I was hoping that you remembered me."

"Oh..." I trailed off.

I wanted to tell her that I'm from another universe, but she's definitely not going to believe in me. And I just had to roll with that 'I lost some memories' excuse... It fucking sucked.

"U-um..." Pondering for a while, I decided to use my... Noir's advice to her. "Well, we're still young. Why not just start to be friends from here?"

"Start to be friends from here..." Felicia repeated, tilting her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we can restart from here," I answered, internally hoping that she's not going to notice the parallel between my two identities. "Maybe I can recall some memories back in our childhood."

"Restart..." She murmured, looking down to her feet thoughtfully. "Just like what Noir said..."

After a few moments of pondering, she nodded with a faint smile on her face. "Y-yeah, maybe a restart can be a good thing."

I smiled as well, taking another step closer. "So... friends again?"

"Friends again." Felicia nodded, widening her smile to a full one. "I don't know, but... maybe I can join your circle as well."

"Of course you can. They're nice."

She brightly smiled again, shifting side to side and blushed. And... she looked cute. I never thought that I would use the word 'cute' to describe her, but here I am.

We didn't talk afterward, just walking around the school for the remainder of the period, since I couldn't just come back and said I'm friends with her. I'll just be the victim of endless teasing from them, especially MJ.

But now, at least I've restarted the relationship with her. Not that I had one with her before, that was the other Ethan's. After all, I'm an outsider.

Whatever, I'll stick with it. Maybe one day I'll be able to come back to my universe, but now... I kind of didn't want to.

* * *

[?]

In a dark and dirty basement, there were a few cells in the room, each containing a person in it. Some of them were young teens or even children, and one of them was a teenage girl with neck-length dark hair and blue eyes.

She was sitting at the corner of the cell, knees hugged close, and her jumpsuit was rugged, holes and scratches everywhere. She kept herself quiet, avoiding any chance to look outside.

Suddenly, the sound of door opening rang through the whole room, snapping her from deep thought and widening her eyes in fear.

"Theodore got caught by that Noir guy, and now I'm in charge of these failures..." The man said, walking down the staircase. "But I can do anything with them..."

The girl clutched her legs closer, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. And the sound of her cell's door opening only worsened it.

"Subject R..." The man trailed off, stepping closer and crouched right next to her. "I heard that you're a fine little girl and an excellent slave."

The girl's head perked up and stared at his eyes, shaking and backed away from him as far as possible. "N-no..." She muttered.

"I won't take 'no' as an answer, Subject R," The man's face fell, forcibly grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him. "You're coming with-"

"NO!" Before the man could even react to what happened, five lines of electricity suddenly came out from her fingers and spread through his body. The man screamed in pain until smoke started to come out, and he dropped onto the ground, dead.

The girl looked at the dead man in horror, before noticing the opened cell and basement door. Without another word, she ran through the room and the doors.


	5. Chapter 5

About two days had passed, and Felicia and I were in much better terms than before. Even though I still hadn't introduced her to Peter and the girls, and they pressured me for the truth.

But today's the day. I'm going to introduce her to them. Let's hope they won't tease me till death, or her. The bell suddenly rang, signaling the end of the lesson and interrupted my trains of thought.

"Um... Guys," I awkwardly said, gesturing to Felicia by my side. "So uh... This is Felicia."

The three just stared at us in silence, widening their eyes in surprise. "O...kay?" Gwen said, raising an eye in confusion. "Why are you introducing her to us?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but Felicia took my place and explained herself. "Well, I never had that many friends... Having a new friend is a good thing, right?" She said, smiling.

Gwen only gave a face with 'Bruh' written all over it, Peter was still in complete shock, staring at her with widened eyes. However, MJ greeted her with enthusiasm, holding her arms and letting her sit on the last remaining seat.

"Felicia, do you play any instrument?"

Oh great, she's all about finding new members for the band.

Felicia shook her head, much to MJ's disappointment. "I'm sorry, but I don't play any instrument." She answered.

"Mary, can't you just stop asking anyone you meet if they play anything?" Gwen said, nudging the redhead's shoulder. "Three members are enough."

MJ pouted, but sighed after a few moments. "...Fine."

Then, before all four of us could react, Peter suddenly stood up and scared us. "Felicia." He said, gripping her shoulder and looked right at her eyes. "We need to talk."

"Huh?!" The silver-blonde yelped in surprise, eyes darting everywhere frantically. "P-Peter-"

However, Peter dragged her off the somewhere else before anyone could react, leaving us in the group, glancing at each other in confusion. Well, I acted as I'm confused.

It's probably about their superhero life.

"Uh... What just happened?" Gwen commented, still glaring at the door they just left from. "D-did Pete knew her before us?"

MJ smirked. "Gwen, you jealous?"

"You look like it," I added, smirking as well.

"No," She deadpanned, getting up from her seat. "I'll be going by now, you guys suck."

Gwen growled and left the room too, but not before MJ suddenly exclaimed. "Hey! Don't forget the band meeting after school today!"

"I remember that, Mary!"

And with that, there's only me and MJ left in the group. "Well... that went very well," I sarcastically commented, sighing and pinching my nosebridge.

MJ turned to me and nudged my shoulder. "So," She said, tilting her head in curiosity. "How did you and Felicia met?"

"Uh... We bumped to each other a while ago and found out that we're childhood friends," I answered. "However, I forgot about her."

"You forgot about her?"

"From that memory loss," Sighing, I put both of my hands to my pocket. "But we decided to start over."

MJ only gave me a deadpanned look in response. "Am I watching a cheesy romantic comedy happen before my eyes?"

A cheesy romantic comedy? Uh... On second thought, she's somewhat right. This could be a romantic comedy, a pair of childhood friends forgot about each other and decided to restart their relationship...

"Maybe, but I'm still not sure of my feeling toward her," I shrugged. "She's a great friend, and very cute... But being a girlfriend? I need more time to think about it."

"Oh, so now I'm the only one who doesn't have a crush on anyone," She sighed, facepalming in the process. "Our little group is going to fall apart."

"I'm not Lisa, and I don't like tearing people apart." I joked, causing MJ to snicker, then turned into a burst of laughter.

"I hate you, Ethan." She said, still recovering from the laughter. "Your joke sucks! But why did I still laugh at it..."

"It's funny, that's why."

* * *

On the other hand, Peter dragged Felicia to somewhere else, out of everyone else's sight. Even though surprised by his sudden action, but she deadpanned at him.

"What's that for?" She asked, shrugging his hands off her shoulder.

"Uh... You're Black Cat, THAT Black Cat, right?" He questioned, glancing around to see if anyone's watching.

"We saw each other out of costume, Spidey." Felicia sighed, taking off her glasses and smirked. "And no, I'm not using Ethan to get closer to you."

"How did you know I was about to ask that question?"

"C'mon, it's written all over your face," She giggled, wiping the lens with her undershirt before putting it back on.

Peter blushed. "I-I really need to take some advice from Mr. Stark about girls..."

"Oh god, Mr. Stark again..." Felicia sighed again, facepalming in disappointment. "You told me the same thing months ago, and there's no improvement since then..."

"Uh... I forgot to ask him..."

"Oh c'mon, you're Spider-Man of all people."

"That doesn't mean anything..." Peter trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. "I-I mean... Mr. Stark is busy with both of his lives-"

"And don't have time to advise about girls." Felicia finished for him, leaning at the wall behind her. "Jesus, get yourself together, and stop being this awkward. I can't even find a reason to act seductively with you."

"Wait, you act?!" He exclaimed, widening his eyes in surprise. "I-I thought you're like this in or out of the costume..."

"It was back when I found you attractive, and I'm not sure of my feelings," Sighing, she shifted her glasses and crossed her arms. "But now, I'm sure about it."

"I'm not going to ask who it's on..."

"I'm thankful for that," Felicia smiled, straightening up and walked away. "Well, see you tomorrow, Spidey."

Peter stood still as she walked away, only to give out a long sigh once she was gone. "Girls... Why are they so complicated..."

* * *

After school ended and I'm finally released from it, I was about to go back home and get my bass when Felicia suddenly caught me by my arms. "Ethan, how about we go somewhere else before going home?" She asked, smiling shyly.

"I have band practice," I deadpanned, pointing at the direction of the bus station. "And I need to get my bass and at MJ's house before they get angry with me."

"Oh..." She 'Hmm'ed for a moment. "Then how about I come to see your band practice?"

"...Whatever, I'm sure that MJ's fine with it."

Or I hope so. Whatever, I'm going to be the one who got beaten up by her at the end.

Sighing, we walked back to my apartment in comfortable silence, the sun was starting to go down and shined on her face. She wasn't being bothered by it, and it made her looked better than before. Not that she's not a beauty already.

The shines, and the shadow enhanced her feature, and I found myself couldn't help but just stared at her. When she was in her costume, and we worked together, I never had the time to take a look at her. After all, now we didn't have a trade to stop, or anyone to save.

And I... wanted to hold her hands, to feel her warmth.

However, my trains of thought were interrupted by a sudden snap of a finger. "Ethan? You've been staring at me." Felicia said, tilting her head in confusion.

"O-oh, I just found that you look good in glasses." I quickly replied with an excuse, awkwardly smiling and hoping that she didn't found it creepy.

Instead of deadpanning and nudging my shoulder, she just blushed and tugged her hair behind her ears. "I-if you say so..."

And with that, we continued our walk in silence, an awkward one. At the bus station, we avoided looking at each other and tried to find something to do. And the same went on in the bus as well.

Once we were back at my apartment, Catherine wasn't here, for some odd reason. She should be off her work by now and taking a long nap on the couch, but she didn't.

But at least she won't tease me to the end of the world.

"W-well, welcome to my apartment," I announced, walking straight to my room. "We won't be here for long, I'll take my bass, and we'll go straight to MJ's house."

Felicia only nodded, walking around and familiarized herself with this apartment. "...It's comfy..." She murmured, noticing a photo on the drawer nearby and picked it up.

It was a photo of me back in the first year of high school. From what my journal said, it was a class trip to Washington, and MJ forced our little group to have a photo at the memorial. But I still kept the picture, nevertheless.

"I missed a lot of things with him..." She muttered, a sober smile crept onto her face.

"OK, we're ready to go," I said, carrying my bass on my back and closed the room's door. However, the sight of Felicia standing still and watching a photo stopped me in my track. "Felicia?"

It took me a few calls to finally catch her attention. "O-oh! Sorry about that," She awkwardly laughed, putting the photo back onto the drawer. "Lost in my thought."

I walked by her side and took a look at that photo. "Oh, that one," I said, playfully nudged her shoulder. "Don't worry. We can have a trip on the Christmas holiday."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Maybe, but I'll try." I shrugged. "Anyway, we should go on now."

With that said, we went straight to MJ's house as quick as possible.

When we finally reached MJ's house, Gwen and she were already readied and was about to call me. However, they were surprised by Felicia's appearance.

"Felicia?" MJ exclaimed in surprise. "So... you're coming to join us?"

"Oh, c'mon Mary..." Gwen facepalmed. "It's probably that Ethan grabbed her here to watch our practice."

"I was the one suggested to see your band practice," Before I could open my mouth, Felicia answered for me and smiling shyly. "So... please don't be too hard on Ethan."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at the silver-blonde for a second but shrugged in the end. "Fine, you can watch us practice."

"Ain't that MJ's decision?" I spoke up, giving MJ a questioning glance.

"I'm not going to have any comment in this." The redhead sighed, grabbing a chair for Felicia to sit. "But since another band takes our Christmas gig, you're the first one to watch us play."

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it," Felicia smiled, sitting down and watching us.

We changed our positions from a circle to the one which was common in a gig, Gwen was on the back end while MJ and I were standing in front, side by side.

"OK," MJ said through the microphone. "Our first song's name is 'The ballad of rock and roll,' but it's actually a placeholder name. The real name of that song is-"

"WE ARE MARY JANES!" Gwen suddenly yelled out loud, interrupted her in the middle. "ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!"

Well, here's go nothing.

With Gwen's fast and wild drumbeats, MJ played the main rifts with the same wildness and passion. While I was playing my bass at a calmer pace, giving Felicia glances on occasions.

_I've been looking forward to the day when we disappear!_

_We'll run away, far far away, together!_

Felicia was speechless at our performance, widening her eyes and mouth in silence. Or... Was she staring at me? Was she?

* * *

After a few songs from MJ and a few more covers, we finished our little performance and I turned to Felicia. "So, what's your thought about us?"

Felicia didn't answer, only keeping her stare at us, or me to be exact.

"Felicia?" MJ said, exchanging concerned glances with Gwen. "You're OK?"

The silver-blonde stayed silence for a few more moments. "You guys... are... so awesome!" She suddenly exclaimed.

Taken back by her sudden exclaim, it took me a few seconds before starting to giggle with her. "Well, it looks like we just got our first fan," I said, giving MJ a wink.

"Yeah," The redhead nodded. "Gwen?"

"Happy for you, Mary," Gwen shrugged, checking the time before stood up from her drumset. "But, mom's gonna kill me if I don't come home in time."

"Hmm?" MJ tilted her head in confusion, checking the clock on the wall. "Oh wait, it's half-past seven already?!"

"Yeah." I nodded.

And with that, MJ hastily packed up everything and called it a day. Gwen rushed to the bus station nearby, Felicia and I also parted on our way home.

* * *

After taking a bus to my apartment, I opened the front door and... there's a girl here, sleeping on the couch. "Did I just got into the wrong apartment?" I murmured to myself, stepping back to check the apartment's number.

It's 405, the same as my memory... So IT'S my home. Then why would a stranger sleep on the couch here? Also, where's Catherine?

Noting that Catherine was suspiciously absent, I crouched down and examined her. The first thing I noticed was that... she's wearing my old clothes, those who were too small for me. And she looked like she just showered, the sense of shampoo was still lingering in her hair.

As if she had a vision of future or Spider-Sense as well, she opened her eyes, and we looked for a second. And we screamed in unison, scrambling back, as far away as possible from each other.

"W-who the hell are you?!" I said between heavy panting. "Why are you in my home?!"

"...I-I... I was brought here by someone..."

"By someone?"

She hesitantly nodded. "I-it was a woman, she saw me and brought me here..."

...That sounds like Catherine.

"O-OK, then, you're runaway?" I said, raising an eye. "Like... run away from your dad, who's a creep?"

"...I have no family..." She muttered, hugging her legs close.

She had no family? That's weird.

I nodded. "What is your name?"

She shook her head in response, staring at her kneecaps. "T-they only called me 'failure'... or 'Subject R'..."

Wait, 'failure'? Where did I hear this word before? Uh...

_"Hmm..." Collins nodded, taking the briefcase in his hand. "Also, I heard about some rumors about the old test subject..."_

_"Oh, those failures." Theodore shrugged casually, crossing his arms. "If you're worried that they're going to escape, I'm sure that they'll never be able to escape."_

_"Oh, those failures."_

_Those failures..._

_Those failures..._

_Those-_

Wait, she's one of those old test subjects about that 'Compound X'! How did she able to escape? Most importantly, will those in charge of her and the other test subject able to track her?

Oh god, I have so many questions right now...

"So... uh..." Wait, how should I call her? 'R'? Or something with an 'R'? "So basically, you escape from somewhere, and Catherine stumbled upon you?"

She nodded again. "I-I was in a basement... a man came over and ... I-I don't know how but... He was dead..."

My eyes widened from her sudden confession. "W-wait, you killed someone?!"

"I-I don't know..." She replied. "I only remembered sparkles, and lightning came out of my fingers..."

Sparkles and lightning? Oh, wait, compound X made you have mutant-like superpowers... But if she's like this... No, it couldn't be...

She's Electro?!

But wait, from what I've heard from the news, Electro was captured and now in Raft. And it's Maxwell Dillion.

T-then... Who the hell IS she? I didn't recall any character in canon that also have electrokinesis in Spider-Man lore...

Wait, Jessica Drew!

"Uh... Do you have spider-based power too? Like, able to crawl on walls or a sixth sense any danger coming your way?"

"N-no..."

Oh great, she's not Jessica Drew. Even though the two did look a bit alike.

Then, who is she?

Thankfully, just as the atmosphere between us started to stiffen, Catherine came back and saw us. "Oh, Ethan, you're back."

"I need an explanation." I deadpanned, standing up and crossed my arms.

"Oh, you met her," Catherine sighed. "Well, it's... a bit complicated."

"Complicated?"

"Um... She's a mutant!" She said, a cheesy smile crept onto her face. "Not only that, I can't find any information about her..."

"No information about her... at all?!"

"Yeah, I just came back from the cops. They couldn't find any match for her."

"Then... how did you meet her?" I asked, gesturing to... 'the girl' (I'll stick to it, for now.) behind me. "She said you met her in the alleyway."

"Oh... Here, I'll tell you..."

* * *

A few hours earlier...

_On the street of Harlem, Catherine just got off from her office work, walking down the street tiredly. "It just sucks..." She muttered to herself, stretching her arms outward and shifted her shoulder bag._

_The sun was going down the building around, and the shadow started to cover her._

_She continued on her way to the parking lot, but the sound of something rumbling in the alleyway startled her. "Hmm? What happened?" Catherine asked to herself, deciding to see what was happening._

_And she only saw a young girl, about 13 or 14 years old and wearing a jumpsuit, collapsing to the ground from hunger. "Oh shit," Catherine muttered, rushing to her side to help her. "You're OK, girl?"_

_The young girl didn't answer, just stared at her eyes with fear. "Y-you're... t-takin... taking... me back to that base... basement?" She breathed, her right hand started to shiver uncontrollably._

_"Basement? What are you talking about?"_

_"I-I don't... don't know... I don't remember..." She said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "I-I... I have not eaten... for two days..."_

_"Poor girl, here." Catherine shook her head in sympathy, taking out a chocolate bar she bought a while ago. "I don't know if it's melted or not, but at least you'll have something to eat."_

_Hesitantly taking the chocolate bar from her head, the young girl tore open the chocolate bar, examining it before taking a bite. "I-It's... de-del... delicious..." She whispered, and tears started to trail down on her cheeks._

_"..." The older woman looked at her soberly, helping her to get up. "You look like you just came back from hell... Where are your parent?"_

_The young girl only shook her head._

_Narrowing her eyes, Catherine decided to continue. "OK, so what's your name?"_

_She shook her head again. "T-they only called... me 'Subject R.'"_

_"Subject R?" Widening her eyes in surprise, Catherine sighed and shook her head too. "Jesus, what have you been through... Anyway, since you probably have nowhere to go, how about coming to my place?"_

_"Your... place?"_

_"Yeah, I can't just leave you here while you have nothing."_

_Even though she's hesitated for accepting Catherin's suggestion or not, but a growl from her stomach startled her. "I-I..."_

_"It's fine. I'm sure that my cooking won't be bad," The older woman giggled, holding a hand out to her. "And I won't hurt you, I promise."_

_Nodding to herself, the young girl took her hand and went with her._

* * *

So... that's it? Well, it sounded like something she'll do. "If that's so, then what are we going to do with her?"

"Uh... Well..." Catherine awkwardly laughed. "Well..."

Oh boy, I have a bad feeling about this...

"Since she has nothing, and the law around mutant is still weird and not concrete." She cleared her throat, taking out a paper from her shoulder bag. "I decided to take her on my own!"

...What.

WAIT, WHAT?!

"Hold on for a second, you're not serious, right?" I said, glancing between her and the girl. "She's about my age! And you can just send her to Xavier Institute, why adopt her?"

Did she know about compound X? If not, then why?

"Do you think she'll good with being sent to somewhere else?" Catherine retorted, taking a step forward and tried to sound commanding. "When I found her, she was being abandoned to the street!"

"Then? You can call Charles Xavier to come over and used his mind power to calm her down."

"I... I just wanted to... It's all said and done." She plainly said, walked over to the girl, and crouched, holding her hands reassuringly.

"...Well, I've never been a mother myself, but I'll try my best." She smiled. "Rachel."

The girl, now called Rachel, only gave her a confused look. "Ra...chel?"

"Yep, that's the name of someone important to me... and I think you should have it." Catherine nodded. "After all, you need a name to live in here, or anywhere."

Rachel? Isn't that Raven's name? Wait, it wasn't DC. So... she is an entirely new person in this world.

I'm definitely in a world of a fanfic.

"Rachel... That sounds good..." Rachel smiled, a single drop of tear crept down along her cheek. "That... sounds... good..."

And I guess I had no say at all about this. She's going to be a part of this family. But to think of it. How were we going to do with her if she's only going to stay in here for a while?

She didn't have parents or anyone else to lean on, and those who are in charge of Compound X must be looking for her.

However... Catherine must be having more reason than want to keep her safe. There must be one.

And now I hate myself that I didn't have any memories for my old self. My other self never mentioned anything about Catherine past in his journal, and I thought it's because he found it boring and didn't write it down.

But now... she didn't look like it.

"...You're a softie, Catherine," I murmured to myself, sighing and patted my aunt's shoulder. "Just make sure that it won't come back and bite you."

"You're the real softie, Ethan," Catherine smiled back at me, but I still could sense a hint of sadness in it.

Turning back to Rachel, she held both of her hands and helped her to get up. "C'mon, let me show you your room," She said, leading the younger girl to the empty room next to hers.

I only stood at where I was and watched them, but a million thought kept surfacing up in my head. I never questioned it, but why there's an extra room in our apartment? It looked like Catherine was prepared for a small family of three when she moved into this place.

But from what I saw, it never happened. And she seemed to have not dated once before, weird.

There were more things of her than I thought.


	6. Chapter 6

[Later that night, Gwen's house]

"So... You got a younger sister?" Gwen asked through the phone, looking out to the window. "Um... Right, since I'm the only one who has any brother or sister, so you come to me for advice?"

 _"Y-Yeah, and I really need one,"_ Ethan said.

"Uh... You know, Philip won't come home until the holiday... and I don't have a lot of experience..." The blonde trailed off, pinching her nosebridge before continuing. "But I'll try my best. Um..."

_"Thank god, you're the best Gwen!"_

"Uh... your sister is adopted, right?"

_"Yeah, she's adopted."_

"OK," Gwen nodded, shifting her eyes to the night sky. "So, since she's adopted, she's probably not from a good place or a place with a lot of love. I can't speak for everyone, but try to let her open up and accept you and Catherine as a family."

_"...Right, I noted it down."_

"Do you really need to note that down?" She deadpanned, but quickly sighed and shook her head. "Nevermind, just do your job as a step-brother and give her love and care. She'll be alright."

 _"Well... I hope so."_ With that said, Ethan ended the call and Gwen was back to the comfort of her room.

However, just as she ended the call, her mother's calling suddenly rang through the door. "Gwen, I need you here!"

Sighing in slight frustration, she replied with the same volume. "Yeah, I'm coming!"

Opening the room's door, a young boy, who's about ten years old, suddenly rushed toward her. "Big SIS!" The boy yelled in joy, hugging her tightly.

Even though surprised by the boy's sudden action, Gwen quickly regained her composure and smiled. "It's been a while, Billy." She said, patting his head.

"It seems that he's eager to see you, Gwen." Hearing her mother's teasing, the blonde girl perked up and deadpanned.

"Mom!"

"Just leave her alone, Helen." George Stacy, A.K.A Gwen's dad, sighing and nudging her shoulder. "By the way, how's Curtis?"

"Just like how it used to be," Helen shrugged. "He and Martha are basically living in their lab in Oscrop right now, saying that they're close to a discovery."

Gwen widened her eyes in realization. "...Oh, so that's why Billy's here." She crouched down to face Billy, trying her best to reassure him. "hey, Billy. Don't worry about your parents. They'll be fine."

"I know." Billy smiled in response. "But mommy and daddy are working on something great!"

"Yeah, they're working on something great." She nodded with a smile.

But then, the voice of her mother took her attention. "Dinner's ready, Gwen."

"Coming!" Gwen replied, cupping Billy's cheeks with a smile. "OK Billy, let's have some dinner, shall we?"

With a nod from the young boy, they came to the table and had their dinner together. However, they didn't notice a white spider crawling out from Billy's backpack, slipping into Gwen's room.

* * *

[Meanwhile, Oscorp]

In a small office in Oscorp, Curtis Connor and Martha Conner were doing a presentation. "...And this is our breakthrough in body regeneration." Martha said, playing a video of a test they did a little while ago.

The video was about a mouse who only had three legs, after injecting the serum, the fourth leg regenerated at an exceptional rate.

"As you can see, our serum has been performing well in animal tests," Curtis explained, opening a 3d render of the mouse. "There's no side effect or any mutation for the test subject, and from our observation today, the subject is healthy and fine."

The man, who was in his mid-forties and wearing a round-edged glasses, nodded in response. "Splendid result, Dr. Connor."

"Thank you, Dr. Octavius," Curtis smiled at his approval, glancing at Martha for a second. "Now, I would like to proposal human testing for the serum."

"Human test?" Dr. Octavius widened his eyes in shock, shifting his glasses. "Curt, I know why you want to get the serum done... But it's still too dangerous to test on humans."

"Bu-but the test result already showed that it's ready-"

"We need to be sure-"

Before Octavius could finish, Curtis suddenly slammed the table in anger, startled everyone else in the room. "NEED TO BE SURE?!" He yelled, staring straight into his eyes. "Every sign showed that it's ready!"

"Calm down, Curt," Martha said, giving him a concerned glance. "If we need to do more tests, it'll only take us a few more days."

Curtis stayed silence for a moment, biting his lips to control his rage. "...You're right, Martha," He nodded. "We'll take a few more tests before proposing for a human test."

Octavius nodded. "Yeah... You two can go now."

With that said, the two left the office. Once the door closed and Octavius was alone, he sighed in frustration. "You're only going to do something bad to yourself, Curt..." He trailed off, suddenly wincing as the pain caught him.

He looked down and saw his hand, shaking uncontrollably.

* * *

On the other hand, once both Martha and Curtis were back into their lab, he slammed his fist to the table. "Dammit!" He exclaimed in rage.

"Curt..." Martha trailed off, hesitated for whether to take a step forward or not. "I know you're urgent to finish this, but it's not the end of the world-"

"Like that battle with the Avenger in New York." He finished for her, turning around to show his pained look. "Martha, I know you're worried for me... But we were so close to finishing this!"

"I'm concerned for you because you're obsessed with regrowing your arm since that battle," she said, taking a step closer and hugged him tightly. "It's been seven years, seven years of non-stop researching and testing..."

"...I'm sorry," Curtis whispered, a single teardrop trailed along his cheek. "I..."

"You lost your arm to save us from those aliens, remember?"

"Y-yes..."

"Then you lost your arm for our lives, Curt." She smiled, burying her face into his embrace. "Please, don't go too far. Promise?"

He nodded, hugging her close with his only arm. "I promise."

The two stayed in silence for a while, before Martha suddenly opened her mouth again. "...I made an antiserum for it, as a failsafe."

"OK..." Curtis nodded again, tightening his embrace.

"...And I need to give Helen an apology, always taking care of Billy for us..." She sighed. "I felt bad for her, she's been cleaning our mess since college..."

"Right, maybe we can give them an apology after this project."

"Maybe..."

* * *

[A few days later, Midtown High]

It was Mr. Harringtion's lesson, again. Even though he's a good leader (kind of) for the Decathlon team and a good teacher, but to just teaching... He's boring at best.

Normally, Peter would just take all his attention to talk with Ethan, trying to kill time. However, he's not in school today. He's helping Catherine to get Rachel settled and found her a school and stuff.

"...An hour left..." Peter murmured to himself, collapsing down to the table. "Ethan, you lucky bastard..."

And at another seat behind Peter, Gwen was about to fall asleep to her table, only to be supported by her hands on the cheeks. "Pete looks bored as well." She whispered to herself, her eyes unintentionally stuck into his back.

"On second thought, he's kinda good looking..." She continued. "Wait, why am I thinking about him right now?"

Shaking her head to clear h the thought about Peter, Gwen tried to concentrate on anything but him. She tried to write some notes from the blackboard, but it quickly spiraled into thought about Peter again.

"I've never been to his house, even though we're friends for two years by now..." Snapping out from her thought, she hastily shook her head. "Not again..."

Her notebook was filled with scramblings about Peter, like what he's wearing or how many times he'd fallen asleep.

"Great... another page used..." Sighing, Gwen flipped through the pages, reading the old scramblings she wrote.

_'He's very good at sport! For some odd reason.'_

_'Two minutes late than usual... Is something bothering him?'_

_'He told us that he wants the new album from that band... Maybe I could buy it for him!'_

"...What the hell was I thinking?" She cringed at them, closing the notebook and sighed again. 'You have problems, Gwendolyne Stacy...'

Fortunately, the bell rang at the exact moment when she was about to slump on the table, signaling the end of the lesson.

"Finally..." Peter groaned in exhaustion, turned around to face her. "Gwen, you're ready for the chemistry quiz?"

Head perked up, Gwen widened her eyes in horror. "Wait, we have a chemistry quiz?!"

"Yeah, Mr. Cobbwell told us like... a week ago."

"Oh no... I forgot to study!" Now in full-on panic mode, the blonde scrambled her bag and took out her chemistry textbook. "Uh... what is the quiz about?"

"Periodic table, group of elements and such." Peter shrugged, walking up to her side. "Need some help?"

"Uh... yeah!"

"OK, I'll try my best," Giving her a reassuring smile and a thumbs up, he took the seat and sat beside her. "So, uh... you're OK with me sitting next to you?"

"...Y-yeah, I'm OK with that," Gwen shrugged with a faint blush, avoiding his glance. "W-well, we still got about ten minutes left..."

Peter nodded, flipping through the textbook to the page with the periodic table. "Trust me." He said, a faint smirk crept onto his face.

"Uh... Yeah."

* * *

A little while later, the bell finally rang, signaling the lunch period. Sighing to themselves, Gwen collapsed to her table while Peter stretched his arms to the air.

"I'm going to fail this quiz..." Gwen murmured to herself, remembering all those answers she thought was right.

Walking up to her with a faint smile, Peter crouched to her level and tapped her shoulder. "Gwen? You're OK?"

"No, I'm not." She grunted in response, leaning back into her chair. "I forgot everything you taught me."

"Oh, ten minutes might be too close..." Peter trailed off, giving her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and helped her to get up. "Anyway, let's have some lunch to forget about it."

"Hey, that's my line." Deadpanning, the blonde sighed again and swept her bangs aside. "...Whatever, let's get something to eat."

With a nod from Peter, the two walked to the canteen and got themselves some lunch to eat. Noting both Felicia and MJ were sitting at a table with two empty seats next to them, they sat down without a word.

"It feels weird," Felicia suddenly blurted out, gaining everyone's attention. "Ethan had never taken a day off from school... and he shouldn't have a reason to."

"Yeah," MJ shrugged. "I asked him about it, and he just said it's family business."

"But he only lives with Catherine, right?" Peter asked, tilting his head in slight confusion. "Just like how I'm with Aunt May..."

"Maybe Catherine found a boyfriend?" The redhead suggested, rubbing her chin in thought. "After all, she had been single since... that."

"It's a possibility," Gwen murmured, remembering the phone call they had a few days ago. "But I don't think it's about Catherine."

"Not about Catherine?" Felicia asked, raising an eye in question. "Then... who?"

Sighing and internally apologizing to Ethan, Gwen started to recall the phone call they had. "He called me a few nights ago, and he's asking for advice." She said. "I remember that he said he got a sister."

"Sister?!" The silver-blonde uncharacteristically yelped in horror, causing everyone to be taken back. "W-when did he get one!"

"How would I know?" Gwen shuttered, still hadn't recovered from the shock. "He only told me she's adopted-"

"ADOPTED?!"

Taken back by her outburst again, Peter hastily put his hands on her shoulder. "Jeez! Just calm down!" He exclaimed.

Taking a while to calm down, Felicia took a deep breath before saying anything again. "D-do you know, most step-brothers would give everything to let their sister blend in with their family..." She trailed off, hesitated on whether to continue or not.

"...Are you implying something, Felicia?" MJ asked, raising an eye in confusion. "It's normal for a family to do that."

"Y-yeah, it's normal..." Coughing, The silver-blonde decided to continue on. "But there's a thing... The sister might develop romantic feelings toward him..."

With that said, the group fell into an awkward silence, until Gwen suddenly connected the dot in her mind. "Oh wait, you are scared that Ethan's sister might fell for Ethan?"

Feeling her cheeks burning, Felicia avoided everyone's glance, looking out toward the window.

"C'mon, it's pretty obvious that you have feelings for Ethan." MJ sighed, finally taking a sip of her water. "If Ethan isn't as dense as he is right now, you two probably are dating already."

"O-obvious?"

"Yeah, it's obvious," Peter shrugged. "You probably never realized it, but every time we have lunch together, you always glanced or just stared at Ethan."

"And somehow, he never noticed it." Gwen finished for him, sighing heavily. "It's frustrating to watch you two dancing around the subject."

"Uh... It takes time..." Trailing off, Felicia narrowed her eyes at somewhere on the other side of the canteen, before suddenly widened in shock. "T-that's... Ethan!"

The group raised an eyebrow in question, following her direction.

* * *

[Ethan's POV]

Well, I should be at home and took care of Rachel's room. But, since she's going to transfer into here, it's the best that I gave her a tour around the Midtown High. And yes, the teachers were looking at me with 'Why the hell are you here?' look, but I had a good reason to come back.

Entering the canteen, I turned around and smiled at her. "Well, welcome to the canteen," I said. "It may look like nothing's special, but you'll grow to love it."

Rachel's only nodded in response, following me closely.

...Still not too interested in talking. Maybe she's not too fond of being in a place with too many people around, or not confident in her English. I didn't notice it at first, but her English was only around third-grader's level. I shouldn't force her to talk more, really shouldn't.

We walked around and I showed her the food counter, introducing her to the lunch lady. Rachel's still very shy, but she did give her a smile and wave.

"Ethan!"

But then, the voice of my friends caught us, more to Rachel than myself. Startling and almost jumped from the call. Turning around, MJ was enthusiastically waving at us while Peter and Gwen were focusing on Rachel. Felicia, on the other hand, wasn't even looking at us, just staring right into her.

And yes, I forgot that it was the lunch period.

Walking up to them with Rachel closely following me, I stepped aside and let her walk forward. "Well uh... she's Rachel." I awkwardly giggled, "Catherine adopted her a few days ago, and she's transferring to Midtown."

"You look so cute, Rachel!" MJ grinned, "I'm MJ, nice to meet you!"

"N-nice to meet you too..." The little girl greeted with a blush, awkwardly shifting around.

Following the redhead, Gwen gave her a short wave "I'm Gwen Stacy, just call me 'Gwen'."

Rachel nodded again in response.

Awkwardly coughing to clear her throat, Peter stood up and held out a hand. "I'm Peter Parker, you can call me Peter."

She took her hand with a shy smile. "Nice to meet you..."

Frowning, Felicia narrowed her eyes for a second before relaxing. And well, she looked not interested in introducing her.

Raising an eye, I sighed and gesturing at her. "And she's Felicia."

Nodding to herself, Rachel nervously smiled and waved. "Hi... Fe-fe-"

"Felicia," Sighing, Felicia finally opened her mouth to say something, while deadpanned. "You're not good at English?"

"A... a little."

Glancing between them, I hastily cleared my throat. "Felicia, You're acting weird..."

"I... Nothing." Shaking her head to clear her thought, the silver-blonde looked away. "Just some thought."

"Right..." I trailed off, turning to Rachel. "Uh... We should get going by now, we still have a lot of places to visit."

Even though she's obviously reluctant to the idea that she has to go, but she nodded and followed me. And once we disappeared, the group all glanced at each other in unison.

"... That's something," Peter was the first one to speak up, sinking into his chair. "Rachel looks to be a nice girl."

"Aside from very shy and not very fluent in English, she's perfectly fine." Gwen commented with a shrug.

"And a very cute one too!" MJ exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "I wish I would have a sister like her."

"But why would she not fluent in English?" Felicia asked in a sudden, grabbing everyone's attention. "She doesn't have an accent, but still not fluent on it..."

"That's weird..." Peter trailed off, but shrugged after a few moments of pondering. "But we should let Ethan do the explanation for us."

"Maybe," MJ nodded. "Then let's change the subject for now."

She turned to Gwen, who sat next to her. "So... time for practice today? Ethan said yes when I texted him."

"I'm sorry... but I've something to do today," Gwen said, shaking her head with an apologetic look. "Today is my first day om that internship."

Peter perked up, curiosity filled his eyes. "Internship? When? Where?"

"It's about... half a year ago, and I forgot to tell all of you about it." Tugging her bangs aside, the blonde paused for a second before continuing. "And it's Oscrop's internship."

"Oscorp?!" MJ and Peter yelled in surprise, a genuine smile crept onto her face. "That's awesome!"

"OK, that was really unexpected," Felicia murmured. "But congrats, Gwen."

"I know," Replying with a bright smile, Gwen stood up with the tray in her hands. "But lunch's about to end."

The group glancing at the clock in unison, widening their eyes and hastily ran off with trays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the whole 'Dead-Bridges arc' will be the overarching storyline of Ethan's story, but there will be different 'event arc' in the middle of the story. These 'event arcs' will mostly focus on a single villain or a single character.
> 
> And the first arc (Peter's side) was going to focus on a certain 'one-armed scientist', and the third spider-powered hero will emerge in this arc!
> 
> P.S. Since MCU was a part of it, I did some retcon about how Curt Connor lost his arm. Not only that, letting the Connor family and the Stacy family have a connection, so Gwen won't just found the antiserum for no reason.


	7. Chapter 7

[A few days later, Oscorp]

"What do you mean by 'They didn't approve', Otto?"

Curtis was... shocked to say at least. After testing over and over again, he thought the result was enough for human testing. But Otto just gave him news of disapproval.

"I mean, the higher-ups didn't approve your serum for human testing," Otto sighed, standing up from his seat. "I wish I could do anything to change their decision, but I can't."

He walked up to Curtis, giving his shoulder a sympathetic pat, "I'm sorry."

Curtis, on the other hand, just stood in where he was and froze. "You've got to be kidding me..." He trailed off, and anger slowly crept onto his face. "This is outrageous, unfair!"

"It is," Otto murmured, nodding and opening the door for him. "But we can't change anything. After all, we don't have any actual power here."

"...Right," Curtis nodded, leaving Otto's room to his lab.

Once he was back in his lab, Martha was sitting on a chair near the door. "Curt, what did they say?" She asked as soon as he came in.

"They didn't approve," He answered, tightening his remaining hand to a fist. "Those higher-ups... We did like hundreds of testing already!"

"They didn't approve it, right?" Seeing a frustrated nod from him, she sighed and crossed her arms. "Goddammit..."

"Martha, what should we do now?"

"I don't know..." trailing off, Martha looked down at her shoes. "I think I'll go get Billy first. It's been a week..."

"You're right..."

With that said, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Both of them were unsure of what to say. However, their silence was interrupted as the door suddenly opened, revealing Gwen in her lab uniform.

"Excuse me, is this Dr. Connor's roo-"

Interrupting herself, the blonde startled at the sight of the two. "Oh, am I interrupting something, Dr. Connor?"

Snapping back to reality, Martha quickly changed into a smile. "Gwen! Why are you here?"

"Internship," Shrugging, Gwen noted Curtis' furious look. "Uh... What happened to Dr. Connor?"

"His project just got rejected by the higher-up," The older woman answered, glancing at him with worry. "By the way, why are you looking for us?"

"...Billy got sick," The blonde replied, causing the two to widen their eyes. "Mom just drove him to the hospital, but both of you should be there."

Widening their eyes in shock, both Curtis and Martha glanced at each other before looking back to Gwen. "Just go, Martha," Curtis murmured, "I need a minute to get myself together."

Even though she wanted to stay with him, but Martha reluctantly nodded in the end, "Just... don't do anything stupid, Curt."

Seeing a faint nod from him, Martha followed Gwen and exited the room. Now only with himself, Curtis turned around and walked to the serums. Taking a single dose from it, he stared at it thoughtfully.

* * *

On the other hand, Gwen and Martha rushed to the parking lot and got into the older woman's car. Gwen was sitting at the passenger seat while Martha drove. Without another word, she stepped on the gas and rush to the hospital.

"Ms. Connor, is Dr. Connor going to be fine..."

"I don't really know," Sighing, Martha shook her head and focus on driving. "But Billy's more important right now."

"Yeah..." Nodding, Gwen kept her silence and focused on the road ahead.

However, she didn't notice a white spider crawling out from her shoulder bag to her hand. Before anyone could realize anything, it bit down hard.

"Ouch!" Squealing at the sudden pain from the bite, Gwen hastily shook the Spider off her hand. However, the white Spider only crawled into the shadow, disappearing from her sight.

"Gwen, you're OK?" Hearing Gwen's yelp, Martha asked while looking at the mirror.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Connor," The blonde replied with a faint smile, glancing at the back of her hand.

However, her hand looked perfectly fine, as the Spider never bit her. 'What the hell?' Raising an eye in pure confusion, she shook her head and cleared her thought.

The two continued their ride in silence until they reached a bridge. For some odd reason, it was unusually congested with other cars. The air was filled with car horns from all kinds of vehicles, and more and more people started to walk out of their cars.

Narrowing her eyes at sight forward, Martha groaned in frustration. "Gwen, are there any other ways to the hospital?"

"I don't think so..." Trailing off, Gwen sighed and leaning further into the backseat. "Why everyone decided to pass through here now?"

"Bad luck, I guess," The older woman shrugged, noting the sudden wave of people frantically ran from behind. "Uh... What happened?"

Gwen was about to open her mouth to answer. However, a voice suddenly rang inside her head, warning her.

**_Behind you!_ **

Startled at the voice, she turned around to see... a silhouette of a monster.

* * *

[In the meantime]

(Ethan's POV)

 _"Noir! Where are you?"_ Spidey asked through my new earbud. _"I'm almost there."_

"I'm almost there too," I said, leaping through another huge gap and landed on the bridge's ledge. "You know, I was going to continue on my investigation on Dead-Bridges."

_"And I was going to have a pizza."_

"Hey, at least you won't need to face Cat afterward," Shrugging, I noted the silhouette in front of me. "I saw it. Let me do the opening shot."

_"Got it."_

With that said, I fired a web bullet and pinned its tail on the ground. "Yo, Lizard!" I yelled, jumping up and fired two lines of webbing on each side. Curt Connor... or now what left of him turned around and stared at me with wide eyes.

Well, it looked like a human-Aligator instead of that... monstrosity in the movie. At least now I won't need to face a better-looking monster, that's a plus.

With no other word said, I pulled myself into a hard kick right into its head. With the element of surprise on my side, my legs landed on its head and knocked him back.

Landing on the ground with a roll, I quickly turned around and glanced at the crowd around us. "It's dangerous, just go!"

They hesitantly nodded and rushed to Manhattan, leaving only the Lizard and me on the bridge. Remember, Ethan... he didn't become this by choice-

Before I could even finish my thought, a bone-chilling roar suddenly rang through the deck, grabbing my attention. Oh great, it's angry.

With a roar, it rushed toward me with fury, knocking the cars in his way to the ocean below. And for some reason, there are still people in those cars!

"Shi-"

 _"I'll get the cars, keep it away from me!"_ Before I could say anything, Spidey rapidly fired multiple web-lines and attached them to the bridge.

"Copy that!" Sighing in relief, I nodded and dashed at the Lizard. But unlike that fight with Rhino, there's nothing for me to use, and I bet my fists wouldn't do too much damage.

Well, I need to be more creative with my web, fast.

* * *

In the meantime, Gwen just recovered from her short concussion, staring at the cold sea below. "W-what just happen-"

Her grunt was interrupted as she noticed the motionless Martha in front. "Mrs. Connor!" Yelling in panic, Gwen grabbed her shoulder and took a closer look.

She had been hit against the steering wheel from the shock, blood dripping down her forehead and onto the steering wheel. Widening her eyes in fright, the blonde girl scanned around to see if there's anything to help them escape.

However, her hand didn't get off from Martha's shoulder, no matter how hard she tried. "Get off!" Pulling the hand off with all her might, Gwen panicked. "C'mon! Why won't you get off!"

**_Left! Someone's coming!_ **

Hearing the voice in her head, she perked up and followed the voice's direction. "It's Spider-Man." She murmured, hastily glanced around and tried to open the door on her left.

Thankfully, Gwen was able to open the car door with her other hand. However, she was stuck with the door handle. "You've got to be kidding me."

Shaking her head, she quickly yelled at Spidey's direction. "HELP!"

Snapping his head toward her direction, Spider-Man quickly helped a little girl to get back on the bridge and swung toward her direction. Landing on the car's side in one fluid motion.

"OK, it's going to be fin-" His words were interrupted as he noted the blonde in front of her, his eyelid widening in shock. "No way..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"N-nothing," Quickly clearing his throat, Spidey noted Martha in the driver seat. "Is she OK?"

"I... I'm not sure," Shaking her head, Gwen tried to take her hand off again but failed. "A-and my hand just won't get off from her shoulder, for... for some reason."

Raising an eye in slight confusion, he opened the driver's door and narrowed his eyes. "Karen, how's she?"

 _"Minor concussion and some bleeding on the head,"_ Karen replied. _"Other than that, she's fine."_

"Got it," Nodding, the Webhead turned back to Gwen. "Ma'am, can you help me to take that lab coat off?"

Nodding, the two quickly took off Martha's lab coat, and Spidey used some webs as bandages, stopping the bleeding on her head. "OK, ma'am," He said to Gwen, carrying the older woman on his back. "I'll get her to safety, just stay here for a moment."

Even though she's not fully calm down, Gwen hesitatingly nodded.

With a nod in response, Spider-Man fired a web-line and pulled himself back to the bridge.

* * *

(Ethan's POV)

Well... The Lizard was more difficult to fight than I thought. No, a lot more complicated.

**BOOM!**

You know, being thrown into a car wasn't fun at all. "It hurt..." Grunting, I quickly got up from the car and dodged another strike.

Roaring, it trashed the car entirely before snapping its head at me, narrowing his eyes. Using my Spider-Wave to scan the environment, I saw Webhead coming back with someone else on his back.

 _"Noir! I have an unconscious woman here!"_ Before I could do anything, his voice suddenly rang through my earbud. _"You can sense her, right?"_

"Yeah, I sensed her," Nodding, I did a backflip to dodge another sweep from it. "I'll try my best to keep it away."

_"There's only one more person down there. I'll join you after I got her."_

"Just be ASAP," Finishing the call, I fired a web-bullet on its face and dropkicked it, knocking it back.

Shaking its head and tore my web off, The Lizard roared again and charged at me. Narrowing my eyes, I jumped and fired a line toward the ground next to it, pulling myself.

However, it suddenly gripped the web-line and pulled me, grabbing my head before I could do anything.

S-Shit! It's Rhino all over again!

Instantly firing a line directly below me, I gripped it with all my might and kicked its chest. Doing a backflip and released my grip, I landed back on the bridge and gained some distance between us.

"I hate to say it, but thank you Rhino," Murmuring to myself, I cleared my head and got up.

However, Lizard didn't charge at me again, only growled and opened its mouth. "S... st... Stay..."

...Wait, it's saying something.

Is the Curtis Connor part waking up again?

"S̴t̷a̴y̵.̶.̷.̶ ̶A̷w̶a̴y̶!̵."

"I wish the same thing, Dr. Connor," I said. "But you're endangering other's life."

"Š̵̤t̷̥̚a̴̝͗y̵̨͠.̴̼͠.̷̢̈.̷͈̄ ̶͍́à̴̤w̷̥͌a̴̟̾y̶̪͘.̸̠̒.̸͓̌.̶̬͝ ̶̠͛f̷̠͛r̴͕̓ŏ̵̠m̷̳͛ ̷̼͛m̸̝͝ė̶͔!̶̮̌" With its voice distorted more and more, the Lizard side got the better of him, and it roared. Was it going to charge at me?

Wait, it didn't.

Before I could do anything, the Lizard turned around and dashed away, crawling over the bridge and dropped to the sea below.

Widening my eyes under the mask, I rushed forward and looked over the ledges. It's gone, probably into the sewers.

...Dammit.

Well, how's Spidey doing?

* * *

Back to Spidey's side, he quickly jumped from the bridge and landed on the car's side. "You're back." Sighing in relief, Gwen leaned back into her seat. "How's Mrs. Connor?"

"She's going to be fine," Nodding, Spider-Man took a closer look into the hand which stuck on the car door. "OK, so how did you got stuck with it?"

"I don't know, it just stuck and didn't come off," She explained, trying again but failed.

"Weird... There shouldn't be anything to make you stuck on it..." Narrowing his eyelid, he grabbed the door's edge and her arm. "Take a deep breath and relax, ma'am."

"W-what are you going to do?"

"I'll try to pull you off, just relax-"

"No!" Gwen exclaimed in panic, frantically shaking her head. "W-what if it doesn't get off, and you ripped my arm apart!"

"Trust me, OK?" Webhead said, leaning closer to her. "Just take a deep breath and relax."

"I-I..." She trailed off, looking away before shaking her head. "I can't, l-like... I know you're kind and anything..."

Sighing, Spidey looked away whispered to Karen, "Karen, what should I do?"

_"Just try our best to let her trust you."_

"B-but I don't know how, that's why I'm asking you!"

 _"C'mon, Peter."_ The AI sighed. _"You know what exactly to do."_

Spider-Man didn't answer her, just looking down thoughtfully for a second. 'I'm going to regret this...' He thought, taking a deep breath before taking off his mask. "Just trust me."

"PETER?!" Gwen exclaimed, widening her eyes in shock. "N-no, this is not happening..."

"This IS happening, Gwen," Peter said reassuringly, cupping her cheeks so she's looking at him. "Just trust me, please."

Gwen gulped, eyes darting between her hand and Peter's face. After a few moments of thinking, she nodded and closed her eyes. "Just... please don't hurt me."

"Of course, I won't hurt you."

With that said, Peter took a deep breath and held her arms and the car door. Internally begging that she'll get off quickly, he pulled the two apart with surprising ease, as if she wasn't stuck in it in the first place.

Opening her eyes, Gwen was in disbelief for how easy it is. "How... I tried before."

"I'm wondering about it too," He said, grabbing her attention and put on his mask. "But let's just get you out of here."

"Yeah..." Nodding, she climbed out and held him close, eyes clutching shut.

Without another word, Spider-Man shot a line at the bridge and pulled themselves back, landing with a soft 'thud'.

However, the bridge was surprisingly quiet, and Noir quickly web-zipped to where they were, landing on a car next to them.

* * *

(Ethan's POV)

"It's gone," I said, sighing inward to myself. "Sorry about that."

Well, if we're following the movie, the next time we saw it would be at the sewers. Anyway, at least there's not that many people got hurt, that's a plus-

Wait, why's Gwen here?

Even though disappointed by the news, Spidey shook his head and smiled under the mask. "At least not that much people got hurt."

"Yeah..." I nodded. "But where's Ms. Watanabe? She should be here by now."

"She was going to handle the civilians with ambulances and such."

"OK..." Trailing off, I turned my attention to Martha behind them. "But there's still one more unconscious person."

Widening his eyes in realization, Spidey instantly rushed to her side and checked. "Thank god... She's fine." Sighing in relief, he quickly carried her over the shoulder. "Noir, Yuri is still around here?"

"I think she's still over there with the ambulances," I replied, pointing at the Manhattan side of the bridge. "But, there's still her right here..." Trailing off, I changed my attention to Gwen here.

"I'll go with Mrs. Connor," Gwen replied, narrowing her eyes at Spidey. "And you have a lot of explaining to do."

Um... Did something happen between them? Whatever, I should tell Cat I'm fine, but she's still gonna kill me, I'm sure about that.

And there's Catherine, right.

"Anyway, I have a few important calls to go through," I said, giving them a goodbye wave before shooting a line of web behind. "And I'm sure that thing will come back, so... stay sharp."

With that said, I pulled the web-line and launched myself to the top of the bridge. Then I quickly took out my phone and called Cat. "Please be calm..." I muttered to myself.

The call clicked almost instantly, and her voice followed. _"You know, I was about to ask you why you didn't come, Noir." Oh_ shit, she's angry or seems so.

"W-well, there's something more urgent to handle."

 _"I know about that. The news is all about you and Spidey's doing on the bridge."_ She replied, rolling her eyes. _"Leaving me hanging while saving the city, huh."_

"U-Uh... I was forced to choose between you and the city. I wished I could just work with you tonight..." I trailed off, pinching my nosebridge. "Just..."

Before I could finish my word, she suddenly giggled. _"Calm down. I was just playing with you."_

Oh.

 _"I didn't say that I'm mad or anything,"_ She continued. _"You just_ _can't_ _leave Spidey to do this alone, right?"_

"...Yeah, I just can't let him do this alone." I nodded.

 _"Knew it,"_ Cat said. _"By the way, I overheard that the 'Ivan' guy won't come back because of that trade we stopped."_

"...Shit, there's go our leads."

_"But they also mentioned someone with a red suit is crushing their hideout..." She trailed off, pausing for a brief moment before continuing. "Maybe we can investigate that."_

Red suit? So there's someone else who's also aiming at Dead-Bridges?

"Of course, we'll check on them," I said. "And I'll do something to make up for tonight."

_"You don't need to do anything to make it up, Noir."_

"But I want to."

 _"...Fine, I'll call you when there's something about that 'red suit' guy."_ With that said, she cut the call, and I'm all alone again.

And both Catherine and Rachel should be sleeping, or I hope so. Sighing and shaking my head, I quickly fired my web and rushed to my apartment as soon as possible. Once I'm back at the building, I quietly opened the window in my room and sneaked in, taking off my mask and the rest of the costume to switch into my pajamas.

But then, the sound of something dropping onto the floor (and my Spider-Sense) startled me.

"No way..."

Sighing to myself, turning around, and... Rachel was staring at me with wide eyes, she opened her mouth but nothing came out.

Oh great, I forgot to lock my room door.

"Rachel, why are you still awake at this hour?" I awkwardly smiled, trying to play this situation as lighthearted as possible. "You're going to Midtown tomorrow, go get some rest-"

"I was just going to get some water..." She said, peeking over me toward the costume on my bed. "But... isn't that-"

"No! It's just my jacket." I said, covering it up with my body. "Just go to sleep, you have school tomorrow-"

"Not until you answer my question." Rachel deadpanned, crossing her arms and stepped into my room. "Why are you so nervous about me finding this costume?"

"U-uh... I'm just surprised."

"You don't look surprised," Narrowing her eyes, she shrugged and turned at the door. "Anyway, I'll ask Catherine what happened." She said, grabbing the doorknob.

Shit! Not Catherine!

Before she could turn the knob, I instantly fired a web-bullet and stopped her. "Please don't tell Catherine, I don't want her to worry."

Startled at the sudden action of mine, Rachel's eye darted between the webbed hand and me. "So I'm right... You're Noir."

"Yeah..." I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. "I'm Noir."

"And if you're Noir..." Trailing off, widening her eyes in realization. "That means you're the one who let me out..."

_"Theodore got caught by that Noir guy..."_

"Let you out?"

"Without you, I might still be in that basement..." Rachel said, nodding to herself with a faint smile. "I was going to find you and give a thank you..."

O...K? That escalated quickly.

"Well, I'm happy that I did help you to have a new life with us..." I awkwardly said, pointing at her webbed hand. "But first, please don't tell Catherine about my other life, and I should get you off from the web."

"I won't tell Catherine," She smiled, glancing at her hand. "And about that web..."

Trailing off, blue sparkles suddenly emerged from her hand, and my web glowed red before burning into ashes. Oh... so her mutant power is electricity, just like Electro.

"Uh... Remind me not to get to your bad side." I nervously giggled, taking off my web-shooters and put them on my table. "And it's about time to upgrade the formula..."

"I'll remember that." She said, suddenly pulling me into a tight embrace. "But... Thank you, Ethan."

Um... What should I do? I've never been hugged by a girl before.

Whatever, just hug her back. Maybe it'll do the work.

Even though hesitated at first, I put my arms around her and returned the embrace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway, this whole arc will follow the first 'Amazing Spider-Man' movie, but there's going to have some difference (Of course.) First, Lizard won't have that stupid plan to change everyone in NY city to a lizard. And the crane scene will have some good reason to happen since Spidey did do good for the town.
> 
> Not only that, the third Spider themed hero's origin will be integrated with this arc!


	8. Chapter 8

[Meanwhile, hospital]

Following Martha's arrival at the hospital, George and Helen Stacy were shocked to hear the news about their old friends being involved in the incident. Without another word, they rushed to her room and saw Gwen sitting at the chair next to the bed, which Martha was resting on.

Seeing their daughter, Helen instantly ran and held her into a tight embrace. "Thank god that you're fine, honey."

"Yuri told us everything," George said, kneeling down to her level and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry... I should be the one to tell them about Billy."

"It's fine, dad," Gwen said reassuringly, glancing at the bed behind them. "Also, Mrs. Connor is more important than me right now."

Hearing her daughter's word, Helen broke the embrace and glanced at the bed. "How's Martha?"

"Minor concussion and light bleeding from the head," The blonde girl replied. "But overall, she's fine."

"Thank god..." Sighing in relief, the older blonde stood up and watched over Martha.

"I think she's sleeping, mom." Gwen deadpanned, sighing and took out her phone. "Mom, dad, I have something to do first..."

Trailing off, she stood up and walked over to the door. "I'll be right back, you don't need to worry about me."

With that said, she exited the room and instantly typed on the virtual keyboard. Walking down the hallway to the elevator.

**Gwen: Pete, you're still around?**

**Peter: Kinda.**

**Gwen: What do you mean by 'kinda'?**

**Gwen: Whatever, I'll be at the front door.**

**Peter: Got it :)**

**Gwen: And you're gonna explain EVERYTHING.**

Seeing no response, Gwen just assumed he got it and continued her walk, arriving at the front door of the hospital. And just at the exact time she stepped out of the door, the voice in her head rang again.

_**Behind you!** _

Startled from the sudden voice, she turned around and glanced a trace of red and blue. Before she could do anything, Peter swang down and grabbed her by the wrist.

Gwen was too shocked to say anything or to scream, and she stayed that way until the two landed on the roof nearby. "...Holy shit," She murmured, coming back to reality.

"I was kind of surprised, Gwen," Peter smiled, still in his costume. "Normally, they'll just scream like they're gonna die-"

"Peter! Why the hell are you doing this?!" She exclaimed, interrupting his word. "You almost scared the shit out of me..."

Taking off his mask, Peter looked away to something else. "Sorry 'bout that..." He said apologetically, rubbing his neck.

Shaking her head to clear the mind, Gwen crossed her arms and glared at him. "Anyway, can you explain how did you become this?"

"Oh... right," He awkwardly nodded. "Remember our trip to Oscorp last year?"

"Of course I remember that field trip, you got bit by a spider and-" She stopped herself, widening her eyes in realization. "Wait a second, don't you tell me..."

"Yes, I got my power from that bite," Webhead smiled.

"OK, but I remember that you weren't wearing this costume when you first started..." Gwen trailed off, poking the spider logo on his chest.

"This suit was made by Mr. Stark."

"Mr. Stark- Wait, you mean Tony Stark?!"

"The one and only," Sighing, Peter walked over to the edge and sat down, looking down to the street below.

"Care to tell me how?" Gwen said with a faint smirk on her face, sitting down at the edge and right next to him. "I'm curious."

"Well, after being Spider-Man for a few months, Mr. Stark just show up in my apartment talking with May," He explained. "Turn out he found my secret identity and asked me to join the Avengers."

Widening her eyes in surprise, the blonde leaned closer. "Did you answer the call?"

"Yep, and now I'm a reserve member," Peter shrugged. "But he did make this suit for me, with a personal AI."

"Personal AI?!"

"Yeah, she's called 'Karen'," He said, giving Gwen his mask. "Here, put it on and you'll know what I mean."

"...Thank god that I cut my hair a while ago." Raising an eye in curiosity, Gwen took the mask and put it on. "OK, so... Karen?"

 _"Greetings, Pete-"_ Karen interrupted herself, as if she just found out that it's not Peter she's talking too. _"Oh, a new user."_

"Just call me Gwen."

 _"Well, greetings again, Gwen."_ The AI paused for a moment before turning on the speaker. _"Peter, you know I'll tell Tony about this, right?"_

Peter's eyes widened in shock, frantically shaking his head. "N-Please don't tell Mr. Stark about this!" He begged. "I already had enough trouble from Black Cat..."

_"Fine, I'll let you slip this time."_

"Thank you..." trailing off, Peter finally released a breath he'd been holding for a second now. "Sorry Gwen, Karen's kinda..."

"Snarky?" Gwen raised an eyelid, taking off the mask and gave it back to him. "Anyway, about Noir."

"I only know him as a partner in crime-fighting," He instantly answered. "And no, I don't know who's under that mask. If I have to say something more, it'll be that he's investigating some gang with Black Cat. "

"OK..." Surprised from his sudden answer, Gwen awkwardly giggled. "So, about that lizard, do you know anything about it?"

"No, I just got news about a giant lizard and I instantly came to see what's happening," Peter shook his head in response, "But now he's escaped, we'll just wait to see where it's going."

"Maybe it's the sewers," She suggested, earning a raised eye from him. "Reptiles usually love dark and humid space to live in..."

"...And sewer is a perfectly place for them." He finished for her.

Nodding to each other, Gwen was about to open her mouth when her phone suddenly rang. Taking it out from her pocket, her face fell into a growl. "Oh, dad should be worried about where I am."

"Well, let's just call it a day," Peter sighed, putting on his mask and wrapped his hand around her wrist. "Hold tight."

Giving him a nod, the blonde wrapped her arms around him. Without another word, Spidey jumped and swung back to the hospital, putting her down lightly.

"See ya tomorrow." He waved, taking a few steps backward before firing a line of webbing, leaving her sight at high speed.

Gwen's glance lingered for a while before sighing, looking down with a faint smile. "A step closer to him, I guess."

* * *

[Three days later, Midtown High] (Ethan's POV)

Stepping out from the school bus with Rachel on my side, I took a glance at her to see if she's alright.

And she's mostly alright, just a bit nervous. I guess.

"You'll be fine, Rachel," I said reassuringly, patting her head. "Just make some new friends and you'll love coming to school."

"I know..." She muttered out loud, sighing heavily before continuing. "But I don't think I'm fluent enough..."

"It's fine, Catherine and I had been drilling you for a week now. It'll be fine."

"If you say so..." Sighing again, Rachel took a deep breath before taking a step. Then another, and another toward her classroom.

Well, she's gonna be fine. Give her some trust, Ethan. Pinching my nosebridge, I was about to walk to my locker when a voice suddenly rang behind me.

"So today is Rachel's first day?"

Oh, it's Peter.

"Yeah," I nodded, grabbing my chemistry book from the locker and closed it. "She should be fine."

"I hope so," He shrugged. "But I was wondering, how did she get into your family?"

...Was he implying something?

Shrugging this thought off, I shifted my book in my arms. "Catherine found her homeless and hungry in the street, and she just adopted her for some odd reason."

"That's it?"

"I think there's more to it, but it doesn't matter now," I said. "I suggested Catherine send Rachel to somewhere better for her, but she insisted to adopt her."

"But Rachel's about our age, how can she-"

"She's a mutant," I answered (Well, that wasn't a total lie), much to his surprise. "And yes, Catherine knew about this and still adopted her."

"...Well, that's something,"

"I know," I nodded with a faint smile on my face. "But she's a good girl, and kinda cute too."

"That doesn't mean anything." Peter deadpanned.

"Maybe," Shrugging, I turned around and pointed at our classroom. "But class is five minutes away."

"Wait what?!" Widening his eyes in surprise, he hastily took his chemistry book and rushed to the classroom.

* * *

Meanwhile, once Rachel was in her classroom, she quickly took an empty seat in the corner and took out her History textbook. However, a blonde girl with green eyes walked up to her with a slight frown.

"Excuse me, but this is my seat." The girl said, pointing at the seat Rachel was sitting on.

"Huh? S-sorry," Surprised by her sudden appearance, Rachel awkwardly laughed before standing up from the seat. "I-I'll find another seat..."

"It's fine," The young blonde pointed the seat next to hers. "That one is open."

"O-oh, thank you,"

The new transfer hastily switched to the other seat, and the blonde girl casually sat down and took out her books. "Um... I've never seen you before," She said with a raised eyebrow. "Are you new to Midtown High?"

"Y-yeah, this is my first day," She replied, tugging a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh, that's why." The blonde smiled. "I am Elizabeth Brant, just call me Betty."

"I'm Rachel, n-nice to meet you," Rachel shuttered, holding out a hand with a shy smile.

Betty returned her smile with a brighter one, taking her hand and shook it. "I'm curious, what brought you here?"

"What brought me here?" The transfer tilted her head in slight confusion, not noticing what she was implying. "My big brother... I guess?"

"Oh, you just moved in and transferred to the same school as your big brother?"

Surprised with her sudden association of ideas, Rachel was speechless for a second before deciding to went along with it. After all, that wasn't too far from the truth.

"Yeah, that's right," She hastily nodded. "I'm surprised that you connected the dot on your own..."

"Reporter's instinct," Betty said with a wink, earning a confused look from Rachel.

"Reporter?"

"I'm the newscaster and the reporter for Midtown High news club," She explained.

"Wait, news club?" Rachel asked, raising an eye in confusion. "But I don't think there's any newspaper or news broadcast here..."

"Well... it's because our old editor Flash left," Betty sighed, leaning forward and supported it with her hands. "Even though my co-host Jason is an excellent editor, we are short on newscasters."

"Oh... That must be suck." The transfer tilted her head in more confusion.

"I know," The newscaster admitted, tugging some hair behind her ear. "For some odd reason, the principal demanded that we need two hosts for the broadcast."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so Midtown news is in hiatus now." Betty finally gave out a heavy sigh, leaning back to her seat. "But hey, now I have more free time, I can focus on preparing for homecoming."

"Homecom-" Before she could finish her question, Rachel instantly interrupted herself. The memories of Ethan telling her about different events quickly surfaced in her mind. "Oh right, homecoming is only weeks away."

"Lucky you," The blonde girl couldn't help herself but giggle. "Hope that you have a dress for it."

"It shouldn't take me this long to find a dress..."

And at the time she finished the word, Mr. Dell walked into the classroom. Knowing that it's already time for class, the two tenth grader stopped their little chat and quickly shifted their focus on the class.

* * *

[A while later, school canteen]

(Ethan's POV)

After the bell rang, signaling the arrival of the lunch period. Even though I was expecting a barrage of questions to Gwen(mostly about the bridge incident), I didn't expect...

This.

"Did you do anything inappropriate to Rachel? Or did she did anything inappropriate to you?"

"Why did Catherine suddenly decided to take her in?"

"Did she said something with weird implication?"

Oh, by the way, all of them were asked by Felicia. And she's leaning closer and closer toward me with each question (She was sitting opposite to me).

"OK..." I said as I leaned away from her, holding my hands up. "Can you just... back to your seat?"

"I won't back to my seat until you answer my questions," She said with a death glare, continuing her leaning until our face were only inches apart. "So, answer my questions, Ethan."

"People are watching..." I whispered, glancing at my left.

Flash was taking his phone out to record us (For god sake...), a huge shit-eating grin stuck on his face. Peter, who was sitting next to me, leaned back with an awkward smile. On the other hand, Gwen and MJ only glanced at each other before sighing in unison.

And the worst of all this, Rachel and a blonde girl who looked like Angourie Rice (So... she's Betty Brant?) was sitting on the table near us, holding a hand over her mouth to hide her giggles.

Great, just great.

With a heavy sigh, I closed my eyes for a brief moment before answering her. "First, we didn't do anything inappropriate to each other."

"OK, one big stone off of my chest," Felicia nodded, finally leaning back for a bit and free up some space.

"As for why did Catherine take her in... I don't really know," I admitted, leaning forward for a bit too. "And no, she never did anything with weird implication."

"So in all and all, we're only brother and sister."

Satisfied with my answers, she sat back to her seat and tugged a strand of her hair behind the ear.

Flash tapped his phone and cut the recording. "OK... I think there's nothing else to see!" He shouted, and everyone went back to their own business.

Seeing that everyone's back to their own things, MJ nudged Gwen's shoulder with a smirk. "So, I heard that you're involved with that bridge fight."

"Huh?" Gwen raised an eye in confusion. "Yeah, I was there."

"Did you met Spider-Man?"

"Uh..." Widening her eyes in surprise, the blonde glanced at Peter for a split second before nodded. "Y-yeah, he saved me and Mrs. Connor."

MJ almost squealed at her answer, her smirk widened into a grin. "Oh my god! You're so lucky!"

"Yeah... Kind of," Gwen hesitantly nodded, taking another sip of her water. "...Ki~nd of."

At the same time as she said that, Peter slightly flinched before calming herself.

OK... What exactly happened to them? Hmm...

Maybe Peter told her that he's Spidey, and now she knows. At least he didn't get caught redhanded by Gwen, not like how I did...

Whatever.

* * *

[Nighttime, Turner Residence, Rachel's room]

"Are you sure about this, Ethan?" Rachel asked as I shifted my protective goggles, her eyes filled with worry. "I know that Eletro is a thing, but you don't need to do this now."

"I know," I said, putting my web-shooters on the stand on a table. "But prepare for anything, right?"

"...I have no word for you now." She deadpanned, wearing goggles as well. "It's the fifth try already..."

"I'm sorry..."Giving her an apologetic look, I tap the button twice and shot a web-line onto the wall. Then, I detached the line from the web-shooter, and Rachel held it with one hand.

I took my notebook on the table and clicked my pen, nodding. "Go ahead, I want to know what should I do this time."

With a faint sigh, she concentrated onto the web and blue lighting sparkled around her hand. And the web-line glowed red for a second before burnt into ashes and faded away.

The web didn't just straight-up turned into ashes, but it was able to stand the heat for a second. So... I needed to make the web a bit more heatproof, right.

"OK, I think I know what I need to do now," I said, glancing at the tubes which containing different solution. "Rachel, can you hand over the web-fluid?"

Without another word, she handed the cup filled with web-fluid. Thanking her and took the cup from her hand, I grabbed the tube with the label 'anti-heat' and poured the content to it.

If my hypothesis is right, this should do the job.

Stirring it for a few times, I took a syringe and extract some of the new web-fluid, then I inject it to a new cartridge. Switching to the new cartridge, I fired a new web-line to the wall.

"Rachel, try to melt it," I said, taking my notebook and readied to record. "I hope it'll be the last time."

"Me too," Sighing, Rachel held the line and concentrated again. "Please, don't melt..."

We both clutched our eyes, praying that it'll work this time. Then, five seconds passed, thirty seconds passed, a minute passed...

Feeling that nothing had changed, we opened our eyes in unison. "Fin-fucking-ally..." I murmured, giving out a breath of relief.

"We did it..." Rachel sighed in relief as well, sitting down onto her bed. "We finally did it!"

The web-line didn't melt or burnt into ashes! It only glowed in bright red, but it stayed intact!

...But now, it's time for the clean-up.

"Rachel," I said, walking to her side and help her up. "now we did it, we need to clean this mess up."

"Clean up?!" She exclaimed in shock, hastily shaking her head in disapproval. "You used my room as a lab, I won't clean this up for you!"

"...Fine," Sighing, I took the 'Web dissolve spray' (I made it for things like this) and sprayed onto the line. After the web was dissolved, I started to clean everything up and made a few more cartridge. Packing everything up and took them to my room.

In the meanwhile, Rachel watched me boringly and noticed my phone's buzzing. Picking it up, she checked who's calling. "Ethan, who's 'Yuri'?"

Yuri's calling me? For what?

"My contact in the police," I said, taking the phone and accepted the call. "Hello, Ms. Watanabe?"

 _"Noir, I need you at Bayside right now!"_ Yuri exclaimed through the line, and it seemed like an emergency.

"OK, I'll be there ASAP," I said, holding the phone between my head and shoulder as I put on the web-shooters. "But what happened?"

 _"We just got visual on the Lizard,"_ She said. _"It's heading toward the neighborhood there, just get there!"_

Wait, Bayside? What's so special about there?

Before I could even say anything, Rachel suddenly stood up and widened her eyes in shock. "...I may know where it's heading toward."

"You know?" I asked with a raised eye, taking my phone a bit away from my ear.

"Yeah, Betty told me that... Curtis Connor and his family lived in Bayside."

...

Oh. Shit.

This is fucking bad, real bad.

Quickly snapping out from my shock, I turned my focus back to Yuri on the line. "Ms. Watanabe, is Curtis Connor and his family in the hospital?"

 _"No, they got out from hospital yesterday..."_ She trailed off, pausing for a second before continuing. _"Wait, why are you asking this?"_

"Nothing," I replied. "I'll be there in a second."

With that said, I cut the call and changed into my costume. I know Rachel was here and seeing my half-naked body, but I couldn't care about it at this time.

However, Rachel suddenly spoke up as I put on my jacket. "Ethan, let me help you."

...What?

"You want to come along?" I asked, zipping up my jacket.

"Yeah," She nodded assuringly, standing up and took a step closer to me. "I have power too, so why wouldn't I stand up and do something?"

"Rachel, it's life and death we're talking about."

"But you're throwing yourself to danger!" Rachel exclaimed, staring directly at my eyes. "I know what you're going say, 'If I care about Catherine, I shouldn't leave her in worry.'"

"You're just doing to do the exact same thing I just said! I know it's not fun and game, I know my life is at risk when I choose it!" She yelled, gripping my jacket's collar. "I can't just sit here and let you do this alone!"

"..." I looked down onto my shoes, taking a deep breath.

...Yes, she had power. And with that, she also have a responsibility. I chose to be Noir with a second thought, and I shouldn't be the one to tell her 'no'. But, what if she ran into someone like Kilgrave? I didn't want her to be another victim and ended like how Jessica Jones did.

But I couldn't stop her from that path. She knew my other identity, seeing me going to the street and risk my life for others.

After a few moments of pondering, I sighed and looked at her blue eyes. "Rachel, even though we're not in the same bloodline, but you're my sister."

"And I don't want you to throw your new life away for me," I took her hands away from my collar. "You should be enjoying your new life, at least for now."

"But..."

"We'll talk later."

With that said, I put on my mask and leaped out of the room's window.

* * *

[On the other hand, Hell's Kitchen]

In the dimly-lighted and messy office of Alias Investigation, a raven-haired woman in her late-twenties was sitting in her chair, checking the pile of files on her desk.

"Affair... fucking affair... and another fucking affair," The woman sighed, closing the file and leaning into her office chair. "I fucking hate this."

However, a knock on the door stopped her train of thought. "...OK, keep calm and expect another fucking affair case." She murmured to herself, standing up from her chair and opened the door.

"Good evening, Jones." On the other side of the door was a young blind man who was in his early thirties, wearing a formal suit and a pair of round sunglasses.

"Murdock," The woman deadpanned, stepping aside for the man to step in. "So, what are you going to need me for? Another investigation on Dead-Bridges?"

"Well, I did in need of some help from you." Murdock shrugged. "And you're somewhat right, it is related to Dead-Bridges."

"Cut the bullshit, Matt."

"Always straight to the point, Jessica," Matt smirked, adjusting his sunglasses. "I need information for a new vigilante called 'Noir'."

"Noir? Ain't he the new guy with spider power?" Jessica said with a raised eye, crossing her arms. "Why would you, the devil of Hell's Kitchen, want me to investigate him?"

"I was in a hideout of Dead-Bridges when I overheard some goons," He explained. "They mention this 'Noir' and the Black Cat was into them."

"So?"

"I want to know what he knows about Dead-Bridges, and maybe I can have a chat with him-"

"Or a heart to heart on the rooftop, like that one time you did with Frank Castle." The raven-haired investigator finished for him, sighing and pinching her nosebridge. "Matt, you still owe me from that case, you know?"

"I remember that." The blind lawyer gave her a faint smile, only to be met by a scowl from her. "And I'll make up for what I owe you, after this one."

"Don't you fucking dare to break that promise."

"Promised." With that said, Matt's smile widened before turning around, exiting the office.


	9. Chapter 9

[A few minutes earlier, Bayside, Connor Residence]

In the luxurious living room of Connor Residence, Martha Connor was calling the police about Curtis. And she wasn't happy with the reply from them.

"What do you mean by 'we did not find him'?" She said sternly through the phone, furrowing her brow. "It's been almost a week, and Curt should be here right now."

 _"I'm sorry ma'am, but your husband disappeared without a trace,"_ The policeman replied apologetically, _"We couldn't find any clue about his whereabouts."_

"Didn't you checked Oscorp's CCTV?"

_"They didn't comply, ma'am."_

"Fucking hell..." The woman cursed to herself, pinching her nose-bridge in annoyance. "Just... Whatever, thank you, officer."

 _"Yeah..."_ With that said, Martha cut the line and sighed heavily, leaning back to the sofa she was sitting on.

"Curt... where have you gone..." She whispered to herself, staring at the plain ceiling above.

However, she didn't notice the Lizard outside of the window, watching her silently.

What was it thinking? Meeting them again? Crash into the house and terrify them? But no matter what it's thinking, Lizard didn't move, not even a muscle. It stared at Martha with an unreadable face.

No, it wasn't staring at Martha. It was staring at its reflection in the window. Or both?

Unfortunately, all those thoughts were cut short by the sirens outside. Growling in anger, it turned around and started to walk toward the street, picking up the speed as he walked.

* * *

(Ethan's POV)

Once I left Rachel's room, I instantly leaped and dashed along the rooftops toward there. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the screaming from the pedestrians helped me to locate the Lizard.

Web-zipping to the edge of a building next to it, I did a point launch across the rooftop. And then I saw it.

The Lizard was rushing down the street, flipping cars on its way to aside. Without another thought, I instantly webbed the cars in mid-air and avoided the escaping pedestrians. Then I fired another web-bullet and stuck its tail to the ground.

"You're not going anywhere, Lizard!" I yelled at it, catching its attention. "I know you want to get to your family, but that's not happening tonight."

"L̶͕̀e̴̳͂a̶̗̚v̸̜͊e̸̼̐.̷̝͆.̴͉̔.̵̱̔ ̷̺̑M̴̨̔e̵͕̓.̷͔͐.̷̱̑.̷͓̈́ ̶̘̍À̶͓L̷̰̃O̶͖̽Ṇ̵̔E̶̙͐!̷̗̆" It shouted in its distorted voice, easily snapping out of my web and charged at me.

Narrowing my eyes under the goggles, I readied myself before dashing forward, attaching two lines of web to a maintenance hole cover beneath before leaping up to the air. Then I avoided its slashes and landed behind it, pulling the cover with all my strength.

The iron plate flew up and clashed to its face, breaking into pieces before falling onto the ground.

...Holy shit, it's skull is harder than I thought! Well, with its strength and endurance, I couldn't just use brute force my way to victory. I need to think of a new way to stop its rampage.

Glancing at the light pole behind me, I leaped and clanged on it and thought of a way to fight it effectively. Wait, I could web it up like how Peter did in the school fight.

Guess I'll try it.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, I jumped from the light pole and fired two web-bullets to the Lizard's foot, then another two to its hand. Then I leaped over its head while positioned its hand to be right in front.

If I couldn't use my own fist, let's try yours!

I instantly pulled the two lines of web with all my strength, but another force suddenly stopped me. "What the hell-" Before I could even finish my sentence, Lizard suddenly pulled back, sending me flying straight to his back.

Its leg snapped out of my web and turned around, grabbing my torso before slamming me to the ground. "I̴ ̷t̵o̵l̷d̵ ̸y̶o̵u̶ ̸t̷o̷ ̵s̸t̵a̵y̷ ̴a̴w̶a̵y̶ ̸f̷r̶o̵m̶ ̸m̷e̷.̸.̷.̷" It growled, clutching my neck with its tail.

I-I co-cou-couldn't b-br-breath...

Noticing my struggling against its tail, Lizard threw me into a concrete wall nearby. "N̴o̷w̵ ̷y̸o̶u̷'̸r̷e̷ ̷g̴o̵i̴n̵g̶ ̵t̴o̸ ̴d̵i̸e̸ ̸b̴e̴c̴a̴u̷s̴e̵ ̷o̴f̵ ̷i̵t̷!̸" It roared.

Quickly getting off from the wall, I fell onto the ground with a large 'thud'. "F-fuck..." I moaned in pain, staggering to get up and leaned against the light pole.

C'mon, where the fuck is Peter...

Shaking my head to clear my mind, I took a deep breath and ran toward Lizard at full speed, or as fast as I could. Using my Spider-Sense to predict the attack, I jumped and avoided its tail. Then I used my arm to block Lizard's arm, firing as much web as I could to keep its right hand to the ground.

This time, Lizard couldn't just tear the web apart. OK, that's some progress.

I leaped over its shoulder again and webbed both of his tail and left hand to the ground. However, as I was about to web its mouth shut, nothing came out of my web-shooter.

"Shit, I forgot to change the cartridges..." I murmured, hastily pulled out the old cartridges and switched to a new one. "C'mon, where the fuck is Peter..."

And coincidentally, Peter finally came in for the rescue, swinging down and kicked Lizard in the head. "Spidey to the rescue!" He quipped, landing and rushed to my side.

"What the fuck was you..." I murmured, a weak smile crept under my mask.

"Hit a little traffic, sorry 'bout that," He replied apologetically.

"...Whatever, I think I can still fight," Sighing, I straightened myself and put on my fighting stance.

Giving me a hesitated nod, Spidey fired a web and pulled himself to Lizard, punching it on the face again. Ignoring the pain throughout my body, I rushed forward and pinned its tail to the ground.

Roaring in anger, Lizard broke its hand free from my web, doing a wide slash toward me. Thanks to my Spider-Sense, I barely avoided its slash with a side dodge. Meanwhile, Peter rapidly fired web-bullets and pinned it in place.

"You know those webs aren't going to do anything, right?" I asked, dodging another strike from it.

"I know, but it's the only thing we can do," Peter replied, his eyelids slightly narrowed. "Karen, what can we do?"

 _"Analyzing..."_ The AI answered, _"Your strength is about its level, but there's no way you and Noir to defeat it without any serum or sort."_

"Serum?"

_"From my analyzation, the Lizard is created from serum, and we need an anti-serum to defeat it truly."_

"...Shit," He quietly cursed, noticing the web tearing on its back. "Karen, what can we do now?"

_"Keep him away from damaging anything or anyone nearby. I'll find help."_

"Easier said than done," Sighing, Peter dashed forward and jumped over Lizard. "Noir! Try to keep him at bay!"

"I've been doing this from the beginning!" I yelled in return, dodging another slash from Lizard. "And I can't stand a chance again-"

Before I could eve finish my reply, Lizard's tail suddenly grabbed my torso, tightening its grip on me. F-fuck! It's explicitly targeting me!

Gritting my teeth from pain, I tried to struggle against its tail. "...Dammit..." I murmured, totally failing on escaping its grip. "Spi-Spidey!"

"Shit!" Widening his eyelid, the Webhead instantly fired a few web lines and pulled. Freeing from its grip, I fell onto the ground and clutched my wrist in pain.

"It's targeting me..." I muttered out loud, struggling to get up from the ground. "And it's not going to stop until I'm dead."

"Then what should we do?!" He asked, kicking Lizard in the chest and knocked him back. "Karen, Any luck on helping hand?"

_"I think she's about here, Peter."_

"She? Don't tell me your calling..." Murmuring under his breath again, Peter was about to step forward when his sensor picked up someone. "It's really her..."

Huh? Hearing his mutters, my eyes followed his sightline and saw... Black Cat?!

"Spider, here!" She exclaimed, throwing a serum to Peter while jumping from a rooftop nearby and landed in between us. "Your AI girlfriend just called me here to give you this... something."

Catching it with ease, Spidey examined it for a second. "Karen, what is this?"

_"sedative," The AI answered. "Since we don't have a serum to take care of it, so we can only compromise."_

"In other words, it's the only way for now," Peter murmured to himself, taking a deep breath before looking at Lizard again.

Before he could even turn around and face Cat and me, Felicia talked first and startled him. "Just go, I'll take care of Noir."

Nodding, the Webhead dashed forward and dodged a few desperate attacks from Lizard, webbing its hands and more to the ground. Meanwhile, Cat instantly turned around and helped me straightened up.

"Noir, you're fine?" She asked, her eyes filled with concern.

Even though my body was still in pain, I gave her a weak smile under the mask and replied. "I... I'm tougher than I look."

"It doesn't seem like it," The platinum thieves deadpanned at my response, noticing my subtle wincing in pain. "Please, don't lie about it."

"Fine..." Sighing in defeat, I leaned back and used a light pole as support. "I'm kinda not fine."

"Well, glad that you admitted it," She sighed, putting my hand around her shoulder while holding my wrist with her left hand. "Spider got this, don't worry."

"I hope so..."

In the meantime, Spidey dodged strikes and strikes, pinning Lizard's limbs to its torso when he saw an opening.

"Let's hope this will work," He thought out loud, knocking it down with a spin-kick before hopping on its back, forcing its head aside and exposed its neck. Without any hesitation, he stabbed the sedative into Lizard's neck and pressed. The content inside injected into the monster in seconds.

Even though Lizard's eyelid widened for a second, its eyes quickly focused on something... me. Curtis' not going to give up on me, right?

With an ear-deafening roar, the Lizard freed itself from Peter's web and threw him aside into a house, dashing toward Cat and me. The world became slow motion at that moment.

Without another thought, I freed myself from Cat and dashed forward, pain exploding throughout my body. However, I tried my best to endure the pain, and caught its claws with my own hands.

...And I only thought of one thing.

"Noir!" I heard Cat's yelling behind me, but I ignored it.

Instead, I stared at Lizard in the eyes. "It's targeting me. I can't let you get hurt!" I yelled back to her.

At that exact moment, I noticed Lizard's strength started to weaken. Taking this as my opening, my hands tightened to fists and delivered punches and punches.

However, with a final headbutt with all my strength, the Lizard stumbled for a bit before noticing a manhole behind. The iron cover was gone, smashed into pieces... by me.

Shit, it's my fault.

I wanted to stop it from escaping, but my head was still fuzzy. I shouldn't use a headbutt... Fuck.

Meanwhile, Spidey finally got out from the rubbles and instantly rushed forward, but he's still too late to catch Lizard. And it's gone, into the sewers.

"It's my fault..." I murmured, stumbling back as I started to lose my balance. "I used the cover and shattered it..."

Snapping back to reality, Cat Widened her eyes in shock and caught me. "What the hell were you doing?!"

"I just... sorry..."

"It's fine," Spidey said, walking up to the two of us. "At least we find out what's effective against it."

"Yeah..." I muttered, feeling my consciousness started to give out. "And it'll probably stay in the sewers..."

I'm going to lose my consciousness again, right? Just like that one time with Rhino...

* * *

(3rd person POV)

Hearing my voice trailing off, Black Cat noticed my body gave out and slumped. "Noir? You're there?" She asked, shaking his conscious body. "Hey, answer me!"

"Karen, what happened to Noir?" Spider-Man asked, tapping the side of his mask. "I need a report, fast."

 _"Multiple bruises, serval broken bones, concussion, extreme exhaustion, bleeding..."_ Karen trailed off, as if she was holding her mouth in horror. _"How did he able to fight in this situation?"_

"It doesn't matter right now," He replied, crouching down and helped Cat to get Noir up. "Cat, I need to get him to a hospital."

_"No, it'll be too late, Peter."_

"Yeah, my penthouse is closer," Felicia nodded, carrying the vigilante on her back. "I have some first aid kit over there."

Seeing there's no other way now, Spider-Man sighed and nodded. "I'll carry him," He said, taking the unconscious Noir from her back. "Let's go."

Without any hesitation, the two masked teens pulled themselves to the rooftop, swinging and leaping through the street. However, they didn't notice a certain raven-haired PI on the ground, taking pictures of them.

"...As a masked vigilante, you really don't know how to hide your traces," She murmured to herself. "But fighting that Lizard thing when you're this underpowered... That's something only a god-tier idiot will do."

Sighing, Jessica Jones turned around and entered her car.

* * *

After a few moments of swinging at full speed, the duo finally arrived at Felicia's penthouse, a luxurious-looking apartment in Astoria district. Once the two touched the balcony, Black Cat instantly opened the door and leaded Spidey to the couch, placing Noir down carefully.

"Karen, notify me of the locations of the injuries," Peter said, his eyelid narrowed at the multiple red spots on his torso and head.

"First-aid kit here," Felicia announced, grabbing a box of medical supplies and placed next to the couch. "Peter, where are the injuries?"

Taking off the mask, Peter pointed at the points highlighted by Karen. "He got some bad hit on the head. We need to take off the mask."

"I don't think he'll be happy about this," She deadpanned, taking off her mask. "Let's see how bad is his body."

With that said, the silver-haired thief pulled the zipper and removed Noir's jacket, then his black undershirt. "...Oh my god..." Murmuring to herself, Felicia's eyes widened at the state his body was in.

Bruises are all over Noir's toned, but still skinny body. Blood was leaking from some wounds, and it was evident that he had broken some bones. Trimming her lips to a thin line, she took out bandages and dressings and started to cover the wounds.

Meanwhile, Peter was scanning for more wounds on the other parts of Noir's body, telling Felicia places she missed. The two continued the work for a good few minutes, and there were only his head injuries left.

Glancing at each other for a second, Felicia grabbed the edge of the modified ski-mask, internally hoping that he's someone she didn't know and pulled.

However, as she was about to lift the mask over the nose, Noir's phone suddenly rang, taking them both by surprise. "Jesus Christ..." Sighing in relief, Peter took the phone out of his jacket and checked who's calling.

"Rachel?" Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, he exchanged a glance with Felicia before pressing the 'accept' button and turned on the speaker.

 _"ETHAN?! ARE YOU HERE?!"_ Before the two could even react to what happened, Rachel's concern voice rang through the speaker. _"Ethan? Please don't pull a prank on me."_

Finally snapped back to reality from the shock, Peter and Felicia widened their eyes at Noir. "Peter, you take care of Rachel," She said, grabbing the edge of the mask again, pulling it off.

Even though Rachel's voice already told them who Noir really was, but seeing it face to face... Only reinforced one thing.

Noir was Ethan, the one Ethan she cared about.

And the injuries and bleeding on his forehead was the only thing keeping her from staring him in disbelief. Gulping, Felicia instantly took out more dressing and bandages to treat his wounds.

She had a lot of questions right now, but she wouldn't get any answer.

On the other hand, Peter turned off the speaker and put the phone to his ear. "Rachel?" He said.

 _"...Peter?"_ Rachel stayed silent for a moment, as if she was thinking of what to say. _"What happened to Ethan? Why can't he answer?"_

"He's in bad shape right now. Felicia and I just got him to her house."

 _"Please tell me that he's going to be alright, please._ _"_ She begged, her voice quivered with each word said. _"Peter?"_

"I can't make any promises, but I have hope in him."

Rachel didn't answer, but hints of sobbing could still be heard.

* * *

[Meanwhile, Midtown, Stacy Residence]

Even since finding out Peter Parker was Spider-Man, thoughts and thoughts popped up in Gwen's mind. But in all of those questions, one of them rang the loudest.

'I feel different.'

She didn't know what exactly happened to her, but there's something wrong with her, she was certain about it. "'I can cling onto walls'..." Gwen murmured as she typed the words to the search bar.

However, the result was only poorly-written fanfictions about Peter and the writer, or just posts about Spider-Man for clout. Sighing in disappointment, Gwen closed the tab and stretched her arms, yawning in tiredness.

**_Still no result?_ **

Even since that day on the bridge, she had been hearing voices in her head. The voice didn't sound like herself, nor something distorted to feel like something sinister.

It was like there was a new mind inside of her head. But for some reason, she didn't feel disturbed or there's something wrong about it.

And this scared her.

'I'm going insane...' Gwen thought to herself, burying her face in her hands. 'I should be weird out by this...'

_**But you didn't, right? It's fine, and you don't need to be scared.** _

'Just stop!' She screamed inside her head, not noticing the white spider crawling to the table. 'You're just some voice in my head, just shut up and leave me be!'

_**I never told you that I'm just some voices in your head, Gwen.** _

_**Just take off your hand. It'll be fine.** _

Gwen didn't know why, but she followed the voice's word, taking off her hands. The white spider was sitting on the laptop's keyboard as if it was staring at her.

"A ... white spider?" It took her a few moments to realize what exactly is that spider, and she widened her eyes in response. "Wait, ain't this spider bit me back when I... was on the bridge..."

_**Remember now? I bit you so you're able to survive.** _

"You bit me? What does that even mean-" She stopped herself in mid-sentence, connecting the dot in her head. "You're not an ordinary spider, right? Just like the one bit Peter..."

_**I guess so. That Peter guy feels like what I felt after biting you.** _

"And that means..." Gwen trailed off, staring at her hands in surprise.

"I got powers... just like how Peter did..."


	10. Chapter 10

[A few hours later, Hardy Residence.]

After the phone call with Rachel, Peter sighed and put the phone on the jacket. "How's Ethan?" He asked, glancing at Ethan's unconscious body for a second before landing on Felicia.

"He's alright, I guess," The silver-blonde sighed, standing up and broke her glance from Ethan. "But... I don't know how to feel about it."

"Me too," He nodded, crossing his arms. "But it does make sense... He got bitten by a spider a month ago."

"I should've connected the dot, it's too obvious."

"...Yeah," Felicia murmured. "How's Rachel?"

"She stopped crying a few minutes ago," Peter answered, sitting down to a chair next to the couch. "I told her that he's gonna be fine, but she probably just has no more tears to cry..."

"That's reassuring," She sarcastically said, burying her head into her hands. "...Ethan, why wouldn't you tell me?"

"He must have his reason," Spidey said, taking out his phone to check the time. "Well uh... I need to go now, Felicia."

"May called you?" Felicia asked, raising an eye in curiosity but only for a second. "Whatever, it's two in the morning already."

"Yeah," He awkwardly nodded, putting on his mask and walked over to the balcony. "See you later."

"Later."

With that said, Peter leaped out of the window and disappeared into the night sky. And Felicia sighed once she was left alone, sitting down next to Ethan and held out a hand, caressing his hair.

"Ethan, wake up... please."

* * *

[A few more hours later, afternoon]

(Ethan's POV)

Sensing the heat of sunlight all over my body, my conscience finally returned to my body. Grunting in slight pain, I opened my eyes and... Where was I?

And why was I half-naked? And my vision was blurry...

Looking around in the... penthouse? I saw my jacket, shirt, and the mask on the tea table nearby. I tried to sit up but something on my stomach pinned my down. Not only that, my right arm was pinned under that thing as well...

Blinking for a few times until my vision was clear again, I looked down to see what exactly was pinning me.

Wait, it's not a 'what', a 'something'

It's Felicia, lying on my torso and fell asleep, still in her costume.

And... it's probably her house. Well, that made sense. By the way, I should wake her up by now, or I'll just stuck in here forever. Pulling out my left arm (which still hurt a little), I softly patted her head.

"Felicia, wake up," I murmured, just loud enough for her to hear. "You're pinning me down."

She groaned in response, pushing her body up and pushed some hairs aside. "...Ethan?"

"Yeah... good morning, I guess," I awkwardly laughed, pulling out my right arm and sat up on the couch. "What time was it?"

Felicia didn't answer, but a smile of relief crept onto her face. And before I could even react, she suddenly lunged forward and hugged me tightly. Widening my eyes in surprise, I froze for a second before returning the embrace, letting her buried her head to my shoulder.

"...Why didn't you tell me?" She whispered. "You know I'm Black Cat for a while, right? Then why didn't you just tell me the truth?"

"Uh... Actually..." I thought for a moment, biting my lips before answering. "I want our relationship to based on us being teen, not as vigilantes."

"Well, my plan failed."

She giggled, tightening the embrace in response. And my wrist suddenly ached for a split second, causing me to wince. "Shit! I'm sorry!" Noticing my subtle reaction, Felicia instantly broke out from the embrace, looking at me with concern.

"It's fine, I'm almost fully healed up..." I said reassuringly, trying to calm her down. "I'm really OK, don't worry. I can handle more damages than Spidey."

"You're not lying?"

"Of course, why would I?"

"Nothing..." Felicia trailed off, looking down at the bandages for a moment. "You should call Rachel, she's been worrying for the whole night."

"Right," I nodded, glancing at the phone on the coffee table next to me. Taking the phone from the table and called Rachel's number.

After a few buzzes, her voice rang through the speaker. _"Ethan? Is this you?"_

"Yeah, it's me," I answered, sharing a glance with Felicia before continuing. "And I'm sorry... Letting you worry about my life."

Rachel paused for a moment. _"...Apology accepted."_

"That's it?"

 _"I know you didn't want to end up like this, just..."_ She paused again. _"I changed my mind, you're gonna make me something, I'll decide later."_

_"After all, I had to lie to Catherine to cover your back."_

"...Sorry," I sighed, lying down to the soft couch. "I'll do it."

 _"Knew it... By the way, Catherine is having overtime today,"_ Rachel said. _"Just saying."_

"Are you implying something?"

 _"No, you're the one who implied it to yourself,"_ She shrugged, holding a laugh but failed. _"But thank you for giving me the idea."_

"Let's just drop it..." I sighed. "Whatever, see you later."

With that said, Rachel cut the line and now I was with Felicia again. "I'm making something to eat. I'm starving." She said, standing up and walked toward the kitchen.

Sitting up from the couch, I rubbed the back of my head and looked around. My shirt and jacket were laying on another couch nearby, as well as my web-shooters and the mask.

Even though I'm covered in bandages, but technically I'm still half-naked. Ignoring the pain in my wrist, I put both my shirt and jacket. Meanwhile, Felicia came out with two bowls of cereal.

She put both bowls to the dining table near the kitchen, frowning as she saw me. "You're leaving?"

"...No, I just don't want to walk around half-naked," I deadpanned, zipping up my jacket. "But um... You don't need to do this for me..."

"Just take it," Sighing, Felicia sat down on one end of the chair. "You don't want to waste my effort, right?"

"Of course," Nodding, I sat down on the other end and started eating. Well, I was more lost in thought than eating the cereal. Now Felicia knew my secret identity, did Peter knew about it too?

If he knew now, then it meant that... either Tony Stark or SHIELD was going to contact me, or Nick Fury would just straight up snuck into my room in the middle of the night, telling me 'I want to talk with you for the Avenger protocol.'

...Well, more like 'I want you to be one of our new team.', and I'm with a few teen heroes like Nova, White Tiger and more. Or just put me to be a part of some team like Teen Titans.

Wait, ain't that the exact same thing?

We stayed in silence, a somewhat comfortable silence. However, I noticed that she would constantly glance at me, more specifically, my clothes. "Is there something wrong with my clothes?"

"No," She shook her head in response, avoiding my glances. "...Ethan, do you remember what did I said about your costume?"

"You said my costume sucks," I shrugged, raising an eye in confusion. What was she leading up to...?

"Right, and I still stand with that point," Felicia nodded, finishing the cereal and crossed her arms. "So uh... You really need a new suit."

"Huh? You're serious?"

"Don't worry, I'll make one for you," She smirked, scanning me with her eyes. "Yeah, that should be right."

...Wait, Felicia's going to make a new suit for me?!

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed, widening my eyes in shock. "You don't need to do this for me, why?"

"'Cause I want to," She shrugged. "And I wanted to do this for a while now. I just never found a good time to do this."

"W-well, thank you, Felicia..." I stammered. "I appreciate it."

Felicia only smiled shyly in response, until she noticed my cereal which was becoming soggy. "Ethan! Your cereal!"

My eyes instantly snapped to the bowl in front, picking up a spoon of cereal. "...Ah shit..." I sighed.

The cereal was completely soggy...

"Sorry..." I apologized, putting down the spoon back to the bowl. "I wasted your cereal..."

"...Whatever," Felicia sighed, shaking her head as she stood up from the chair. "Ethan, I have nothing to do today, can you... uh..."

She paused for a moment, shaking her head again. "Nevermind, just forget about it."

"You want me to stay?"

"Well, yeah-" She interrupted herself, widening her eyes in shock for a split second and deeply blushed. "N-No! You're fine, there's no point for you to stay here."

"Your reaction said otherwise, Felicia," I said, trying my best to hold a smirk from forming on my face.

"Uh..." She paused for a second, her blush deepened as time went on. "...Fine, I did want you to stay..."

"And I'm not going anywhere today," I chuckled. "Rachel told me that Catherine's working overnight today."

"Really?!" Felicia exclaimed in surprise, a grin slowly but surely crept to her face. "That's great!"

However, her smile fell after a moment, looking down at her suit. "Um... I need to change my clothes, I can't just wear this suit for the whole day."

With that said, she quickly skipped to her bedroom above, turning around as she was about to enter the room. "By the way, there are some spare clothes in this room, if you want to change into something else."

Seeing my nod, Felicia smiled and entered the room. And I walked to the other room a moment later. Well, Felicia was right, there are some spare clothes for males. Weird.

Anyway, I quickly changed into a plain black T-shirt and sport trousers, and I got out with the costume in my hand. At the same time, Felicia came out with a pink tank top and grey track pants.

"Felicia, about these clothes..." I trailed off, glancing at the clothes in my hand. "Do you have somewhere to put them?"

"You can just put them in the room, Ethan," She deadpanned.

"Oh." I quickly walked back into that room, putting the costume on the bed and came back out.

Felicia was already sitting on the couch, choosing which movie or series to watch with a bored expression. "Ethan, any idea for movies?"

"I don't really have one," I admitted, sating next to her, glancing at the TV before us. "And I don't have time to watch Netflix..."

She sighed. "Being a hero really took our time to be a teenager..." Pondering for a moment, she grabbed the remote and randomly picked a movie to watch.

And it was called... 'Tall Girl'? Who came up with this name?

(Fun fact: Tall Girl is a real Netflix movie, don't look that up, I'm begging you.)

Whatever, we're going to stay on this couch for a long while.

* * *

On the other hand, in a dock on Lower Manhattan, Gwen was walking up to an empty warehouse. Stuffing her hands in her sports jacket's pocket, she opened the door to the warehouse, taking a look into the vast spaces in it.

She was wearing a grey sports jacket over a white T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans and running shoes.

Pulling down the hood, Gwen pulled both hands out from the pocket, revealing the white spider on her right hand.

_**Care to remind me why are we here?** _

"I want to test those powers you gave me," She answered, examining the things in the warehouse. "And this is the perfect place to test them."

_**You can just go to some rooftop and try it...** _

"This place gives me more freedom to mess around, look," Gwen pointed at the chains hanging from the ceiling, narrowing her eyes. "I guess you know what I wanted to try, right?"

_**...Fine, I get it.** _

Smiling, she took a deep breath as she readied to test them out. Without any hesitation, she dashed forward to a wall, jumping up and landed on it.

Instead of falling down as normal, her hands were sticking to the wall, supporting her. "OK... they still work..." Widening her smile, Gwen started to crawl along the wall, until she reached the ceiling.

_**On second thought... It's a stupid idea.** _

"It's not that stupid." The blonde giggled, looking down to the ground beneath her. "Nevermind, it kinda is."

_**Gwen, you don't need to do this, just crawl down and do something else to do.** _

Pondering for a moment, she looked at her hands for a moment before shaking her head. "But I still want to try it."

Before the voice could even say anything, Gwen took a deep breath and jumped. Turning around in mid-air and grabbed the hanging chain. "Got it!" She beamed, using the momentum and swung to another chain.

_**...I'll just stay silent for a while, you're just a massive idiot.** _

"I heard that," She deadpanned, keep swinging between the chains until she reached the final one. Jumping from it, she stuck to the wall for a second and let go, landing with a swift roll.

Turning back, she looked at the chains with a bright smile. "That was awesome!" She laughed, stretching her arms to the air. "Hey, I think you should have a name."

_**You're talking to me?** _

"Of course, it's only me and you." Gwen nodded. "I can't always call you 'you' or 'voices in my head', right?"

_**Well... I guess.** _

"Glad you're agreeing with me," She said, letting the spider crawled to her shoulder as she jumped and sat on the wall. "So... Any idea?"

_**No.** _

"Fine..." Sighing, Gwen quickly thought of another name, tapping her forehead in the process. "Uh... 'Silk'?"

_**No, that sounds like a name for something like... moon.** _

"You told me to come up with an idea, that means you don't have a choice," The blonde pouted in protest, narrowing her eyes at the spider. "If you want to be called something else, don't tell me to come up for you."

_**Fine, I'll pick one for myself... even though you're the one who wanted a name for me.** _

The voice stayed silent for a few moments.

_**White.** _

"White?" Gwen asked out loud, arching an eye in confusion. "That's it?"

_**That's the best name I can come up with, Gwen.** _

She shrugged in response. "Fine, I'll call you White from now on."

With that said, they're about to enjoy the silence and took a break when her phone suddenly buzzed. Raising an eye in confusion, Gwen took out her phone and checked who's calling. "Peter? Why now?"

Tilting her head in more confusion, she accepted the call. "Peter? What happened?"

_"Gwen, do you know anything related to Curtis Connor?"_

"Dr. Connor?" Repeating his words, the blonde thought for a second before shaking her head. "Not that I'm aware of. I only knew him as my mom's friends."

"But why asking about it? Did the Lizard relate to him?"

 _"Well... I'm at Lizard's... uh... nest."_ Peter stammered. _"And the word 'Oscorp' was written all over the wall..."_

"You're at what?!"

 _"It's nest... in the sewer."_ He said. _"I need to know where it has been, OK?"_

"Peter, where the hell are you-"

 _"I'm fine, you don't need to worry,"_ He shrugged, looking around in the place. _"But I don't see it, weird..."_

"Peter, just get the hell out of there," Gwen clutched her phone so hard that it almost cracked, worry written all over her face. "I don't like how it's going."

 _"I'm really fine, Gwen,"_ Peter giggled. _"But you're worried about me, that's heartwarming-"_

"It's not the time for a joke, Peter Parker!" The blonde exclaimed in anger, even scaring White.

However, there's no reply.

Just silence.

"Peter?"

Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Gwen looked at her phone but they're still on the line. "What the hell?" She whispered to herself. "Peter? Just answer me goddammit."

Silence.

"Peter? Peter Parker?"

"Spidey? Bug-boy?"

Still receiving no reply, worry started to appear on Gwen's face. "...Hey! Answer me!"

_**That's bad...** _

"Peter! Don't just leave me here!"

* * *

[Meanwhile, Hell's Kitchen, Nelson and Murdock]

After saying goodbye with Foggy Nelson, Matt Murdock remained in his table and waited, waiting for a certain PI's arrival.

Fortunately, he didn't need to wait long.

Hearing the heartbeat from his office's door, Matt quickly got up and opened the door for her. "Jessica," He said, a faint smile crept onto his face.

"Matt," Jessica Jones deadpanned, gesturing him to step aside as she entered the office. "I got to tell you something, it's unusually hard to find information about Noir."

"That's harder than I thought," He joked, closing the door and sat down on his seat. "So, what did you get?"

The PI cleared her throat, pulling a folder from her bag, "First, Noir should be around Spider-Man's age," She said, opening the folder to reveal a map. "But I can't confirm it."

The map was filled with different red lines, signaling the direction and places where sightings of Noir took place.

The blind lawyer frowned at this information, adjusting his sunglasses. "Even though it's expected, but taking on Dead-Bridges at this age..."

"I know," Jessica nodded, taking out a few photos about Noir which she took herself. "Not only that, his whereabout are extremely easy to locate if you're looking into him. He's shouldn't be like this."

"And this reminded me of a certain someone with Spider power too," She finished, glancing at Matt as she said this.

"They're both teenagers, that's usual for them," He smirked, folding his walking stick.

"I don't care. After all, you're the one who will talk to him." The PI deadpanned again, pulling out the map and unfolded it. "But the most important thing of all, I somehow found a certain area he always crossed."

"His hideout?"

"More like his home," She said. pointing at a point that almost every line crossed with each other. "It's Greenpoint at Queens."

"A residential area," Matt said to himself, nodding. "No wonder, it might be where his home located."

"Well, I'll leave this file to you... I had to look around footages online and offline, asking anyone for sighting and story about him..." Jessica said, stuffing everything into a file and pushed it to Matt. "Now, let's talk about how are you going to repay me."

"That's some hard work from you," He sighed, shifting his sunglasses. "And money is not gonna be accepted, right?"

"You're damn right." She shrugged, leaning back into her chair. "So uh... You're gonna be my attorney for a year, and free of charge."

"Well, that's easy," The blind lawyer smirked, crossing his arms. "And I'm not just going to handle things you get yourself into."

"Yeah, so... Basically, you will be my personal lawyer for a year."

"I can deal with that," He shrugged.

"It's deal then," Leaning forward for a second, Jessica stood up and packed her things. "Well, I think it's my time to leave now."

"Jessica, you know I can't read the file, right?"

"Of course," She nodded, turning around and smirked. "But it's not like I'm gonna read it for you."

"Typical you, Jess."

The PI's brow instantly turned into a frown at his nickname, crossing her arms. "I told you not to call me 'Jess', Mr. Murdock."

Sighing, Matt shook his head with a bitter smile. "...Kilgrave is dead, you snapped his neck."

"So?"

"I know it's kinda cheesy, but it's time for you to move on."

She stayed silent for a while, avoiding his gaze. "...I'm trying."

Before Matt could even mutter a noise, Jessica instantly left the room, leaving him sitting in his chair. Once the door clicked and closed, he let out a heavy sigh and leaned back.

"...More like lying."


	11. Chapter 11

[Half an hour earlier, in the sewer.]

After coming back to his home for a few hours of sleep, Peter instantly got out again and stepped into the gutter. Did he regret it? Kind of.

"Jesus... This smell..." Gulping, Peter couldn't help himself but stopped crawling for a second. "Karen, do you have anything to filter the smell?"

_"I have an air filter built-in to the mask, do you need me to turn it on?"_

"Just do it... The smell is killing me..."

 _"Got it,"_ With that said, the text 'air filter on' appeared on Spidey's HUD, and the disgusting smell instantly disappeared.

letting out a breath of relief, Peter took a few more breaths before continuing his crawling. "This is where you detected the unusual movement, right?"

_"Yes, just ahead."_

Nodding to himself, Spidey closed his eyes for a second. "Let's hope that we're gonna find something here."

_"Me too, Peter."_

Reaching the end of the sewer they're in, Spider-Man did a front flip and stuck on the wall, looking around the large area in front of him. The room in front of him was strangely massive, and a pile of different things lying in the center of the room.

However, the most disturbing thing... was on the wall.

"Holy shit..." Peter murmured to himself, looking around at the wall.

It was filled with scratch marks and nonsense craved into the wall, and in most of them was the word 'Oscorp'.

"Oscorp... Did that Lizard have something to do with them?" Asking out loud, he leaped from the wall and landed in the middle of the room.

 _"It could be,"_ Karen replied. _"I just looked into Oscorp's database, and there's something related to Lizard."_

"What's that?"

_"A serum designed to regenerate lost body parts, extracted from Lizard DNA."_

"Lizard DNA..." Peter trailed off, stroking his chin as he kept looking around for anything useful. "Karen, can you find the creator of that serum?"

 _"Done,"_ Karen replied in an instant, showing a photo of Curtis in his HUD. _"The serum was created by Dr. Curtis Connor, with the assistant from his wife."_

"Curtis Connor... can you contact him? I want to talk with him."

_"I'm afraid the answer is 'no'."_

"'No'? Why?"

 _"...He's been missing for over a week now,"_ The AI answered, showing the page from NYPD missing person. _"Ever since the day of... Lizard's appearance on the bridge."_

"...Dammit, that's not going well."

 _"Wait, there's more lead to it,"_ She suddenly said, and the image of Gwen popped in front of him. _"Gwen is an intern in Oscorp, right? We found her with Martha Connor on that day."_

"Now that you're mentioning it, call Gwen, now," With that said, Peter's HUD almost instantly rang with Gwen's voice.

_"Peter? What happened?"_

"Gwen, do you know anything related to Curtis Connor?" He asked, looking into the pile of stuff in the middle.

 _"Dr. Connor?"_ She stayed silent for a moment. _"Not that I'm aware of. I only knew him as my mom's friends."_

_"But why asking about it? Did the Lizard relate to him?"_

Feeling something in the bottom of the pile, Spidey stopped for a second before answering. "Well... I'm at Lizard's... uh... nest."

Taking the mysterious object from the pile, he looked around the wall to see if there's any more stretching on the wall. However, there's only the word 'Oscorp'. "And the name 'Oscorp' was written all over the wall..."

 _"You're at what?!"_ If Karen didn't tune down the volume for a significate amount, Peter's ear would be ringing by now.

Startling in surprise, Peter awkwardly coughed and examined the object in his hand. "It's nest... in the sewer." He said, wiping the dirt and other unidentifiable stuff on it. "I need to know where it has been, OK?"

It was an empty injecter, and Ocsorp's logo was visible on the white tube-like object.

_"Peter, where the hell are you-"_

Before Gwen could finish her word, Peter quickly interrupted her with his, shrugging. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry," As he finished his reply, his Spider-Sense suddenly buzzed, alerting him that he's not alone.

Widening his eyelid in surprise, Spidey quickly glanced around him to catch anything. "Something's here..." He murmured to himself. "But I don't see it, weird..."

_"Peter, just get the hell out of there. I don't like how it's going."_

"I'm really fine, Gwen," Giggling, he looking back to the injecter in his hand, totally unaware of Lizard's silhouette behind him. "But you're worried about me, that's heartwarming-"

Before he could finish, his Spider-Sense buzzed again and warned him. Turning around, Peter didn't have time to react before Lizard's claw suddenly grabbed his neck, slamming him to the wall.

"̶P̶a̷t̸h̸e̶t̴i̴c̸ ̶b̸u̵g̵.̴.̵.̷"̶ It growled, staring right at Peter's eyes. "A̴l̵w̶a̷y̷s̵ ̶p̶o̷k̶i̸n̵g̶ ̷h̸i̶s̸ ̴h̶e̵a̴d̸ ̷t̷o̴ ̷s̶o̶m̸e̶w̴h̷e̵r̷e̸ ̶h̵e̷ ̸d̴o̴e̷s̴n̷'̸t̷ ̷b̴e̷l̶o̴n̸g̶.̶"

"H...hey, Lizard..." He managed to squeeze out through the tight grip around his neck, both of his hands were struggling to free himself from the grasp. "What had you done to Curtis Connor?"

"̶C̶u̴r̷t̸i̴s̶ ̸C̶o̶n̸n̸o̷r̵ ̸i̶s̵ ̸d̷e̴a̵d̶,̸ ̷n̴o̴w̵ ̴o̷n̵l̵y̸ ̵L̷i̶z̸a̵r̷d̸ ̴r̷e̴m̴a̶i̴n̶s̶.̸"̷ Lizard said through the distorted voice, its other hand started to reach Spidey's mask. "̷N̸o̸w̵,̷ ̶l̷e̵t̸'̷s̷ ̶s̵e̷e̸ ̸w̵h̴o̸ ̴i̵s̶ ̵t̸h̴e̷ ̷o̷n̸e̴ ̶b̶e̵h̵i̴n̵d̸ ̵t̷h̵e̷ ̷m̸a̸s̴k̵.̸"̵

_"Peter! Your heartbeat is increasing at an alarming rate!"_

"I... know," He gasped, using all of his strength to tear the grip away. "Karen... escape route..."

_"I'm looking!"_

However, just as Karen finished her reply, Lizard tore the mask off from Peter. Staring at his look of struggle, its eyes widened for a brief moment but quickly narrowed. "̸I̴t̵'̷s̷ ̵y̸o̵u̷.̸.̵.̴"̸

"̸P̸e̴t̷e̴r̷.̵.̷.̶ ̸P̶a̴r̵k̸e̴r̶.̶"̷

Peter couldn't believe what he just heard, widening his eyes in shock and disbelief. The Lizard knew who he was under the mask? How? Who exactly was it?

Feeling the grip around his neck loosened for a bit, he quickly kicked its torso and freed himself, firing a line of web to grab the mask from its hand. "Karen, you're there?"

 _"I didn't go offline, Peter,"_ Karen answered sarcastically, highlighting a narrow hallway on the top of the wall. _"There, just follow the sewer and you'll be fine."_

"Got it," Nodding, he swiftly leaped from the wall over its shoulder, firing another line of web and pulled himself to the highlighted hole. However, the chilling howl from the Lizard startled him.

"T̴h̵i̵s̴ ̸i̷s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̵ ̴t̷h̴e̴ ̶e̷n̵d̴,̸ ̸P̵e̶t̴e̴r̷ ̴P̸a̶r̴k̸e̶r̴.̶" It said, somehow audible through the distorted voice. And it started to dash toward him, climbing up the wall.

Gulping, Peter closed his eyes for a moment before picking up the speed of his crawling. "C'mon..." He murmured, jumping through the hole and stuck his hand to the ceiling.

Turning back and stared at its face on the entrance, just small enough to block him. Lizard's eyes were cold as ice, but also filled with anger. Couldn't help himself but faintly shivering, Peter quickly turned around and swung away from it, finally stopping at somewhere near an exit.

Releasing a breath he's unawarely holding, Peter took out the injecter and further examined it. "Karen, can you find anything on it?"

 _"Scanning..."_ Karen replied, scanning the injecter for a moment before continuing her answer. _"Other than the dirt, there's the serial number on it."_

"serial number?"

 _"Yes,_ _serial number_ _,"_ She said. _"Let me analyze further. I'm going to search for it on Oscorp's database."_

Nodding, Peter stayed silent as the AI compared the serial number with Oscorp's database. "Karen, how can you get access to Oscorp's database?"

 _"I never said I have access,"_ Karen deadpanned. _"I am an AI created by Tony Stark, do you think Oscorp's digital security is difficult for me to hack?"_

"You hacked it?!" Exclaiming in surprise, Spidey stopped for a second to calm himself down. "...Oscorp won't notice you hacking, right?"

 _"I guess so,"_ Replying as if she's shrugging. The AI continued her search for a moment. _"Got it, I found who got the injecter before ending up here."_

"Really?" Grinning under the mask, he jumped to the other side and climbed up on the ladder. "Who got it?"

_"Curtis Connor."_

"Curtis Connor?" Now Peter was confused. "He has this injecter before ending up in the sewer..."

However, as he kept murmuring to himself, the dots started to connect. There are too many commons between Lizard and Curtis, he went missing on the same day Lizard appeared... Having the one injecter which mysteriously ended up in Lizard's nest.

Lizard's hate against Oscorp...

"No way..." Widening his eyes in realization, Peter looked at the injecter in his hand again. "Karen, did Curtis Connor worked with someone in the Parker family?"

 _"Yes, he was a college with Richard Parker, back when Oscorp first started in the 90s,"_ Karen replied. _"I think you should ask May about him."_

"...I'm thinking the same thing," Narrowing his eyelid, Peter pushed the cover away and jumped. Attaching a line of web to a building nearby and swung, landing on a rooftop nearby.

However, a certain blonde suddenly crept into his mind, reminding him of the call. "Shit..." He murmured. "Karen, call Gwen."

_"Already done."_

At that exact instant, Gwen's voice suddenly rang through the speaker. _"Peter Parker! Do you know how worried I was?! You just call me for no reason and suddenly stopped replying... I was scared that you might be dead!"_

"I'm s-sorry..." Peter murmured, looking down to his feet. "Lizard attacked, and I had to escape as quickly as possible."

After a few moments, Gwen finally calmed down and let out a deep breath. _"...Did you get hurt?"_

"Just some scratches," Answering with a faint smile, but it fell instantly as he remembered one thing. "But there's something I want to ask you."

_"About Dr. Connor?"_

"Not exactly," He said. "Can you ask Martha Connor about the Lizard?"

_"Huh? Why would she involved with the Lizard?"_

"Ask her about any serum, especially serum with Lizard."

_"...I'll try."_

"I'm counting on you, Gwen."

With that said, Peter cut the call and checked where he was, looking around before jumping from the roof. Swinging around and headed his apartment in Queens.

* * *

[The next day, Midtown High] (Ethan's POV)

Well, there was only a day and now I was back in school, the worst part of having a secret identity. Thanks to my strengthened recover rate, my injuries were mostly healed.

But my shoulder still hurt.

"Ouch..." Murmuring to myself, I opened my locker and packed textbooks and notebooks.

"Still hurt?" Turning around, I was greeted by Peter, crossing his arms with a faint smile.

"Yeah, hurt like shit," I nodded, closing the locker's door. "After all, I just had some bandages and care from Felicia..."

"Wait, you know now?"

"I was helping her to get you to her home," He deadpanned, opening his locker (which was next to mine) and packed his books. "I should've connected the dot when you got bit."

"Well, I really suck on concealing my identity..." I trailed off, giving out a sigh. "God, you're rubbing off on me, Peter."

"I'm not that bad."

"Yes, you are," I said, trying my best to hold down a smirk. "I figured it out for the first time we met in costume, I just never told you."

Speechless, Peter took a few moments before continuing his packing. "...That's reassuring."

"Well, other than us and Felicia, who knows about our secret identity?" I couldn't help but asked, raising an eye in curiosity.

"Gwen, that's it."

"Hmm, you're better than I thought," I chuckled. "Rachel knows about me too, got caught red-handed."

Peter only chuckled in response.

Sighing, I glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, Physics class is about five minutes away," I said, starting to walk over to the Physics classroom. "We'll talk later."

"Yeah."

* * *

In the meantime, Rachel and Betty were sitting in their history class, mostly bored from Mr. Dell's lecture.

"Why are we talking about the Dark Ages again?" Rachel murmured to herself, resting her head on her palms. "Betty?"

Betty shrugged in response. "Witch hunt, I guess."

"It makes sense..." Trailing off, the raven-haired girl stared at nowhere for a second. "Hey Betty, Midtown News is still missing a co-host, right?"

"Yeah, the principal is still looking for one," Nodding, Betty shifted her attention to Rachel, raising an eye in curiosity. "But why are you asking 'bout it?"

"Uh... I'm kinda interested," Rachel said. "I-it's not like I'm interested because we're g-going to host together if I'm in..."

"I never said that."

"O-oh," She murmured to herself with a faint blush, avoiding Betty's gaze in embarrassment. "J-just forget about it."

"No, I don't think I will," Smirking, the blonde girl leaned closer. "Rachel, do you know you're adorable?"

"I-I'm not cute..."

"I'm just messing with you," Betty couldn't help herself but giggle at her, shifting her smirk to a full smile. "Geez, you're so easy to tease."

Rachel opened her mouth, but nothing came out as a response. "...I'm still serious about joining the news team." She murmured, just loud enough for the blonde to hear.

"I can see that," She smiled in return, extending the distance back to normal. "We'll talk to the principal after class, OK?"

"Yeah," The raven-haired girl nodded eagerly, her smile matching Betty's.

* * *

[Afterclass, Principal's office]

Principal Morita was a man who was all about rules, strict and 'no jokes'. However, these things above only applied to students who were the worst.

For Betty and Rachel's case, it was an entirely different story.

"Miss Turner, you wanted to join the news team?" He asked, raising an eye as he looked at the two girls.

"Yes," Rachel nodded with a faint smile on her face.

"But you're only here for about a week, are you sure that you're joining?"

"I know," She nodded again. "But I'm interested in reporting the news. I want to know how it feels."

Morita pondered, stroking his chin for a moment before nodding in approval. "That's the spirit I want to see. Rarely a student would actively volunteer to something like this."

"So uh..." Betty opened her mouth to say something, but she paused for a moment before continuing. "Principal Morita, does this mean Rachel..."

"Yes, Miss Brant," The principal smiled, shifting his focus from Betty to Rachel. "Welcome to the team, Miss Turner."

Rachel beamed in response, politely bowing at him. "Thank you, Principal Morita."

"It's fine, Miss Turner," Morita kept the smile on his face, gesturing at the door behind them. "Miss Brant, you're going to introduce her to the team."

Betty nodded, leading Rachel as she opened the door. Once the two were back to the hallway, the raven-haired girl's smile widened into a full grin.

"Excited?" Betty giggled, walking down the hallway to her locker.

"Of course!" She eagerly nodded. "So, we're going to have a meeting after school today?"

"I guess, it's all depended by Mr. Berman," The blonde shrugged, reaching the locker and opened it. "We have different classes coming up, talk at lunch?"

"Yeah, talk later," Nodding again, Rachel quickly walked toward her locker.

* * *

[Lunchtime, Canteen] (Ethan's POV)

After the bell rang and we all went to the canteen, the five of us found the usual seat. And MJ was all about that battle with Lizard.

"Ethan, what do you think about that battle?" She asked, raising an eye in curiosity. "I'm curious."

"Uh... I don't know," I muttered, wincing slightly as my shoulder suddenly ached again. "That thing's going to cause some havoc if no one stops him, but Spider-Man's here."

She nodded, seems to be satisfied with my answer. However, Gwen noticed my faint wincing, narrowing her eyes at me. "Ethan, something happened to your back?"

Shit! OK, Ethan, time to bullshit your way out of this.

"Yeah..." I nodded. "I fell from a stair today, silly me."

C'mon, just forgot about it and move on...

"You fell?" She raised an eye in confusion, leaning closer to take a better look. "Ain't you lived in an apartment? Why would you fell from a stair out of all things?"

Shit, I'd put myself to a corner.

I peeked to Peter next to me, only to be greeted by a look which said, 'Don't ask me, I have no ways to help you'. Well, I didn't blame him.

"W-well..." Trailing off, I stared at nowhere as I tried my best to figure out an excuse. "It's because-"

"He was staying in my house," Felicia suddenly interrupted me, calmly taking a bite of her bread.

However, silence covered our table as soon as she said that. Peter was not surprised at her words at all, just glanced at me with a confused look. And I was somewhat shocked at her sudden action.

She's probably trying to shift the attention away of me, but you're doing the exact opposite, Felicia. Look, Gwen and MJ were in total shock at your words!

"You've gotta be kiddin' me..." MJ murmured, her eyes widened to the point that her eyes almost bulged out. "Gwen, did you listened to the same thing?"

"Yeah..." Gwen nodded, her eyes also widened as much as MJ. "Felicia, you're not joking, right?"

"Of course, I was just messing with you guys," Felicia giggled, a bit of her 'Black Cat' persona slipped through as she gave me those seductive glances. "Right, Ethan?"

OK, what the hell was she thinking?

Shifting my glasses, I quickly nodded. "Yeah..."

"Wait a sec, Felicia," The blonde girl suddenly interrupted ourselves, her suspicious glances kept shifting between Felicia and me. "You two are acting weird..."

Thankfully, MJ suddenly groaned in annoyance, taking Gwen's attention from us to her. "My head hurt..." She murmured out loud, shaking her head. "Let's just drop this topic, OK?"

"By the way, lunch is ending," Peter said, pointing at the clock hanging on the wall. "Ethan, I have something to talk with you."

Huh?

Raising an eye in confusion, I nodded, finished the remaining of my lunch in seconds, and I quickly left the canteen with him. What about Felicia? She's probably going to be interrogated by the other two girls. Probably.

Once we're back in the hallway, Peter quickly grabbed me to a (relatively) empty corner. "So, I may have figured out Lizard's identity."

"You figured it out?"

"Uh... It's more Karen's work, but it doesn't matter right now," He said. "It's Dr. Curtis Connor, or I thought."

Oh, so he figured it out.

"You need some confirmation, Peter," I said, crossing my arms and narrowed my eyes. "But what did you do when I was recovering?"

"I went to the sewer to find any trace of it..." He started, closed his eyes as he recollected the memories about it. "Then I came across its nest, and I found an injecter in the pile of something... But then he ambushed me and took off my mask."

"The weird thing is that he recognized me..."

Wait a sec, what? "He recognized you?" I asked.

"Yeah! He said my name out loud, and told me that 'It's not going to be the end'..."

So he went to the sewer and fought with Lizard, got his mask took off, and it recognized him... Wait, were we experiencing the plot of the first Amazing Spider-Man movie?

Lizard first appearing on the bridge, then that fight with him...

Wait, after the sewer battle, the next encounter with it will be...

Here.

I widened my eyes in realization and shock. The dots were all connected. "Peter, I think we just got ourselves into some real fucking problem."

"What problem?" Peter asked, raising an eye in confusion.

"Now that thing knows your identity, and he's either going after May or here," I explained, causing his eyes to be widened.

"OK, I think I really messed up..." He muttered, taking a few moments to calm himself. "I'll call Happy to warn him about the Lizard, but if it's coming here..."

"We'll have to fight him here," I finished for him, sighing and leaned at the wall behind me. "I don't want to do this either, but it's the only way."

"Yeah..." He nodded, taking out his phone and called Happy. "...Happy? Can you look after May for me?"

"...Yeah, she's maybe in danger... It's the Lizard, it knows my identity."

After a few minutes of silence and nodding, Peter finished the call and sighed. "Let's hope that it's not going after May..." He murmured.

"I hope so..."

* * *

The remaining lessons went by like a flash. But for Peter and me, we're anxious about whether Lizard would suddenly appear in the school or not. Thankfully, it didn't show up, for now.

Once we heard the bell rang, Peter and I quickly packed our belongings and left, walking down the hallway toward the main gate.

"So, you're going back to its nest again?" I asked, shifting my backpack.

"Yeah," Peter nodded. "Maybe there are more things I overlooked."

"Can't beat that," I shrugged.

However, screaming suddenly rang through the whole hallways, catching our attention. "RUN!" Someone around the corner on the other side shouted.

We exchanged a glance at each other, taking a step back in caution. Please didn't be what I was thinking...

A swarm of students suddenly dashed around the corner, and what was following them was-

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..."

It was Lizard.

Roaring, its eyes scanned the whole hallway before locking on us. No, it was on Peter.

"He's onto you, Peter," I muttered, taking another step backward.

"I know, go get the others," Peter said, scanning the hallways. "I'll lead it to somewhere away from the crowd."

Nodding, I turned around and dashed, taking out my phone and called Yuri. "...C'mon..."

_"Hello? Noir?"_

"Yuri, the Lizard is attacking Midtown High," I said through the panting as I ran, searching for the girls.

_"Wait. What?_ _"_

"You heard me. Lizard is attacking Midtown High!"

_"...OK, I'll send a few units over there. I'm receiving calls from Midtown High too."_

"Thank you." With that said, I cut the call and continued my dash.

* * *

[Meanwhile, Midtown News Studio]

After school ended, Mr. Berman called everyone on the team for a meeting. The studio was located on the other side of the campus. It was tiny, but big enough for five people.

However, there's no one here.

"What the hell?" Betty asked out loud, looking around the tiny studio. "Where's everyone?"

Rachel, who was standing behind her, raised an eye in confusion. "Maybe... We're too early?"

"No, Jason always comes here before me," the blonde replied, shaking her head. "And I had to walk you over here today..."

"Let's just wait. They should be here by now," Shrugging, she sat on the swivel chair next to the computer. Meanwhile, Rachel took another chair and sat down, resting her head on her palms.

The two waited for a few minutes in silence, but there's something off. "What the hell..." Betty murmured, taking out her phone and was about to call the others.

However, the screaming from the floor below startled them.

_"RUN!"_

"What the..." Trailing off, she stood up and walked over to the door. "Rachel, stay here, OK?"

"Uh..." Pondering for a moment, Rachel shook her head and stood up from the chair. "No, I want to know what happened too."

"Well, I can't force you to stay,"

With that said, the two girls left the room studio, walking down the empty hallway. The screamings were all gone, just as sudden as how it came. "Weird..." The raven-haired girl muttered, noticing some growling from the other end of the hallway.

"Betty," she called, narrowing her eyes at the other end. "I heard something over there..."

Turning around, they were greeted by the silhouettes of two things, as the two shapes started to close toward them, the two girls were able to identify them. It was Spider-Man and Lizard.

The human-reptile hybrid focused on them in mid-battle, its steps shook the ground beneath. As the distance between them started to shorten, it picked up its pace and slowly turned into a dash.

The Webhead turned around and noticed them, his eyelid widened in shock. "R-run!"

Hearing his words and without any hesitation, Rachel grabbed her wrist and ran in the opposite direction.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Spider-Man: New Spiders!   
> I've been wondering whether to cross-post this fic for a while, but I decided to do it nevertheless.   
> Well, it's mostly because of the comment system on AO3.  
> Anyway, because I don't want to just post all eight chapters (as the time of this note) at once, so I'll spread it out like weekly.  
> But I'll try my best to catch up on the Fanfiction.net version of this fic.   
> ...  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story so far!  
> Comments and Kudo are welcome!


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